By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

A top South Korean diplomat strongly denied a report by The Washington Post that South Korea was conducting nuclear experiments more than six years ago and trying to hide the work from inspectors, once again stressing Seoul has no nuclear weapons program.

``We’re very concerned about the current situation in which the recently revealed tests, both the plutonium- and uranium-based ones, are lumped together to arouse a synergic effect to undermine our country’s nuclear transparency,’’ the official said during a media briefing.

``Now there have even been news reports like one by The Washington Post, which alleges Seoul had secret nuclear arms programs,’’ he told reporters on condition of anonymity. ``That’s totally groundless.’’

Officials at the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry said they will consider whether or not to take legal action against the reports by some foreign media.

The senior official said the isolated experiment in early 2000, which led to the separation of 0.2 gram of uranium and the plutonium-based test in 1982 should be dealt with separately as they are quite different in nature.

The 2000 uranium test was disclosed in June this year as the South Korean government was preparing for a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in compliance with the Additional Protocol to the IAEA Safeguards Agreement, according to officials.

The 1982 experiment that extracted a small amount of plutonium, measured in the milligrams, has been a pending issue for the past few years after it was raised by the U.N. nuclear watchdog in 1998 due to some mistakes about the test in reports.

``South Korea has been in full compliance with the IAEA obligations of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and nuclear non-proliferation,’’ the senior diplomat asserted.

Commenting on the future procedure at the IAEA, he said he doesn’t think the past research activities by small groups of scientists were a matter that should be referred to the United Nations Security Council.

``It will be dealt with at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting due on Monday,’’ he said. ``But I don’t think this problem should be referred to the U.N. Security Council.’’

There was another report by a foreign news agency earlier in the morning that quoted some U.S. diplomats as saying Seoul’s past work on plutonium and uranium _ the key ingredients for atomic weapons _ could be referred to the Security Council in November.

``South Korea joined the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) in 1975 and has been fulfilling its duties as a member state of the IAEA,’’ he said. ``We don’t have any nuclear weapons program nor would we in the future.’’

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr