SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), thanked South Korean government for its voluntary report of nuclear material experiments and cooperation with IAEA's inspection teams on Tuesday, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

    Yonhap quoted officials at the South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology as reporting that ElBaradei expressed the above standing to Science and Technology Minister Oh Myung when the two held meeting on Tuesday.

    In responses, Oh reiterated that South Korean government thoroughly holds nuclear transparent principal and will truly fulfill the international Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.

    Oh also said South Korea will set up an independent institution to supervise and manage nuclear activities in future.

    Oh hoped the investigation results of the IAEA inspection over the South Korea's old nuclear experiments can be reported to the board of governor meeting in this November without any prejudice.

    The two also made agreement to strengthen cooperation over security of nuclear energy, Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Programs (INPRO) and radiation iatrology.

    Moreover, in a reception of Egyptian Embassy to South Korea, ElBaradei also confirmed that the IAEA will send a third inspection team to South Korea late this month for additional investigations into the country's past nuclear material experiments, Yonhap said.

    The United Nations nuclear watchdog sent two groups of inspectors in late August and late September to probe the (South) Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute's nuclear facilities.

    South Korean government admitted last month that two groups of scientists of the nuclear research center conducted two experiments, one in 1982 and the other in 2000, on producing small amounts of plutonium and enriched uranium, the two main types of fissile material used in nuclear weapons.

    ElBaradei's South Korea trip came as Seoul was awaiting a verdict from the IAEA on its controversial experiments involving nuclear materials.

    The acknowledgment touched off suspicions over the country's nuclear ambitions despite Seoul's repeated assertion that the laboratory experiments had nothing to do with nuclear weapons.

    ElBaradei arrived here on Sunday to attend an international non-governmental disarmament seminar, known as the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs which kicked off its sessions earlier Tuesday.

    The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog has met South Korean PrimeMinister Lee Hae-chan, Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and Oh Myung.

    ElBaradei will conclude his four-day trip to Seoul and leave here on Wednesday. Enditem