SEOUL, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- A group of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will make an inspection of South Korea's nuclear safety and management procedures from the next week, reported South Korean Yonhap News Agency on Sunday.

    A six-member team from the International State Systems for Accounting and Control Advisory Service (ISSAS) will arrive in Seoul next Monday to inspect nuclear facilities and hold meetings with local experts so it can provide recommendations on South Korea's handling of its nuclear development, Yonhap said, adding the team will leave here on Aug. 1.

    The ISSAS is an IAEA initiative designed to provide recommendations for the overall management of peaceful nuclear development projects.

    The multinational team led by Nikolai Khlebnikov, head of the agency's safety and technical support office, will compare procedures and practices in South Korea with the obligations specified in international safeguards agreements and guidelines, said Yonhap.

    "The team will be briefed on Seoul's State's System of Accounting for and Control of Nuclear Material (SSAC) regime, and visit an atomic research lab and a commercial nuclear power plant," a South Korean Science Ministry official was quoted by Yonhap assaying.

    The visit by the team is expected to raise the level of transparency South Korea has maintained in its nuclear energy development.

    The South Korean government admitted in last September that several scientists had produced a small amount of plutonium and uranium in two separated experiments on nuclear materials in 1982 and 2000.

    In a Chairman Conclusion issued by the IAEA in last November, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said South Korean nuclear issue is "a matter of serious concern" since the Seoul government did not report the two experiments to the IAEA in time.

    However, the IAEA decided not to refer the South Korean nuclearissue to the UN Security Council, for the two experiments were exceptional cases. Enditem