China hopes that the Republic of Korea (ROK) will continue to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in providing speedily relevant information concerning its nuclear activities so as to bring about an early solution to the issue within the framework of the agency, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Thursday.

The Chinese delegation believes that the report on ROK's nuclear issue released by IAEA's Director General Mohamed EIBaradei provides a large amount of facts and information, said Zhang Yan, permanent representative of China to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, at the IAEA's Board of Governors meeting.

"The report enables us to understand more accurately and comprehensively the nature and scope of ROK's nuclear activities and their impact," Zhang said.

Although the quantities of nuclear materials involved in ROK's laboratory activities of enrichment and plutonium separation have not been significant, yet ROK failed to report the activities in a timely manner to the IAEA, he said. "This is a matter that causes serious concerns."

But ROK, he said, has taken corrective actions, and adopted an attitude of full cooperation in assisting the IAEA's investigation.

Zhang said the report believes that no indications show that the undeclared experiments still continue, but it requires that ROK make all necessary efforts to provide operational records and detailed information on plutonium separation and uranium spectroscopy experiments.

The IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, will continue to verify the correctness and comprehensiveness of the relevant declaration, and will report to the IAEA's Board of Governors as appropriate, he said.

Zhang said that the Chinese delegation expresses concerns over the facts in the report on ROK's nuclear experiment activities.

"The Chinese side believes that maintaining the non-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is highly significant to the maintenance of the region's security and stability," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2004)