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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday that an explosion detected early this month over North Korea was probably not a nuclear blast but it could not be ruled out.

"I think it's unlikely, but we are not there and we cannot validate this conclusion for sure," said IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei in an interview with CNN, when asked whether he thought the explosion was caused by a nuclear weapons test.

U.S. and South Korean officials have also said the explosion was unlikely to have been a nuclear weapons test despite the appearance of a "peculiar cloud" over the area.

North Korea is believed to be developing nuclear weapons and a nuclear test would radically alter the stakes in North Korea's standoff with Washington over Pyongyang's atomic ambitions.

Pressed on whether he really believed North Korea might have conducted a nuclear test, ElBaradei said: "I am leaving the door open. I would like to go there (to North Korea). Our experts would go there. If North Korea would like to exclude that possibility completely they would be well advised to allow us and other experts to go and inspect that.

"As long as we are not there, I cannot exclude that possibility 100 percent," he added.




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