South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Monday evening the nuclear material experiments that South Korean scientists conducted years ago had nothing to do with nuclear weapons.

Ban made the remarks during a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Colin Powell, according to a statement issued by South Korean Foreign Ministry.

For his part, Powell said he understood the experiments were done by some scientists for academic purpose and they had nothing to do with nuclear weapons, the statement said.

Earlier Monday, Ban also held telephone conversations with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing over the issue.

Over the past couple of weeks, Seoul has acknowledged two separate experiments, one in 1982 and the other in 2000, which resulted in the production of small amounts of enriched uranium and plutonium -- the two main types of fissile material used in nuclear weapons.

These acknowledgments triggered speculations about the country's nuclear ambitions, despite Seoul's repeated assertion that they were purely academic activities that had nothing to do with nuclear weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Monday held a Board of Governor meeting and discussed the experiments. The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations has expressed serious concern over the issue.

Source: Xinhua