A ranking South Korean official on Friday argued it was too early to assume that the country will be referred to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for its past nuclear experiments.

"The report was only a summary (of IAEA findings) based on simple facts and it contained no views of judgment," the official was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying on condition of anonymity, referring to a preliminary report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the country's recently revealed nuclear experiments.

The IAEA on Thursday released a report following Seoul's admission in September to two one-off experiments in 1982 and 2000that resulted in the production of 0.7 gram of plutonium and 0.2 gram of enriched uranium, saying South Korea's failure to report its experiments was a "matter of serious concern."

The report, however, also acknowledged that the small amount ofnuclear material produced as a result provided no links to a secret nuclear development program.

The IAEA has sent three batches of inspectors to South Korea toinvestigate facilities, facts and personnel involving in the two experiments.

The report is also intended to serve as a rough draft to a final report by the UN nuclear watchdog to its board of governors,which is scheduled to meet on Nov. 25 to decide whether to refer South Korea's case to the UNSC.

"The final decision will be left to the 35 member countries of the IAEA board of governors," the official said.

The international nuclear agency also reported that the averageenrichment level of the South Korean plutonium was 98 percent while that of uranium was 10.2 percent, with a small fraction of it close to 77 percent.

The official also expressed his dissatisfaction with some pressreports that claimed the materials were close to weapons grade.

"There has been no judgment on whether the nuclear materials produced were weapons grade or not," he said.

Plutonium and uranium are the two main ingredients used in nuclear warheads, but only such materials enriched to over 90 percent are considered weapons grade, according to experts.

Source: Xinhua