ISTANBUL, Turkey — The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday that South Korea four years ago produced a small amount of uranium enriched to close to the level that could be used in weapons.
A confidential study prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna confirmed previous news reports that the South Koreans had failed to disclose several experiments involving uranium enrichment and conversion and plutonium separation between 1982 and 2000.
The report called the concealment "a matter of serious concern," but said agency inspectors had discovered no evidence that South Korea was pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
A copy of the eight-page report was made available to The Times on Thursday. IAEA officials declined to comment on the findings. The agency's board of governors will take up the matter at a Nov. 25 meeting.
A Western diplomat in Vienna said the United States might push for South Korea's hidden experiments to be referred to the United Nations Security Council as a violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
This may serve as a precedent for taking similar action against Iran, which the United States has accused of secretly operating a nuclear weapons program. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is strictly to generate electricity.
The IAEA is expected to issue a new report soon on Iran's disputed program in preparation for the upcoming board meeting. Iran concealed key aspects of its nuclear program for 20 years, and the United States is demanding that it be referred to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
Tehran failed to give a definitive response Thursday to a European deal to freeze Iran's nuclear program. In a Paris meeting last weekend, Britain, France and Germany had offered lucrative trade incentives and a way to avoid sanctions if Iran agreed to suspend sensitive nuclear enrichment activities.
If Iran refuses to halt its nuclear enrichment work, the European Union would back U.S. efforts to refer the issue to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions. Iran had promised a reply by Thursday so it could be included in a report the IAEA may distribute to its board members as early as today.
