VIENNA, Oct. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), left Vienna for a visit to South Korea on Saturday to discuss Seoul's secret nuclear research.

    ElBaradei's trip to South Korea had been scheduled before the country's nuclear activities were disclosed, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

    "There are a number of topics he wishes to discuss and of course he understands that the recent revelation about nuclear experiments will come up in the discussions," she said.

    On Sept. 9, the South Korean government admitted that several scientists secretly extracted a minimal amount of plutonium duringa research experiment in 1982.

    The acknowledgment came one week after Seoul's announcement that a few South Korean researchers conducted enriched uranium separation experiment four years ago.

    After the revelation, ElBaradei said the country's secret research was "a matter of serious concern" and he will continue toprobe into the case.

    IAEA inspectors, who were in South Korea last week to take environmental samples and interview scientists, will submit a report to the IAEA board of governors next month.

    South Korea says the laboratory experiments were not linked to nuclear weapons programs, but diplomats here indicated that the country's failure to report the experiments was a violation of thenuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and should be reported to the UN Security Council. Enditem