NEWS: IAEA Chief Says Cannot Rule Out Korea Nuclear Blast, page 1

Mohamed ElBaradei head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that the explosion that had been detected was in all likelihood not an nuclear blast. However, he also stated that he could rule out the possibility. The report earlier in the month of a large explosion with an unusually large mushroom cloud has fueled speculation that North Korea may have detonated a nuclear device. North Korea has been at odds with the United States since 2002 and has continued to pursue the development of nuclear weapons. So far a group of western diplomats, including representatives of Germany and the United Kingdom have briefly visited the site that North Korea Claims is a hydroelectric project. Their findings were inconclusive. The blasts according to the North were part of the project and they have indicated that more will follow.

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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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ElBaradei went on to say that until the North allows his inspectors into the area to check out the sight themselves, they would be leaving the door open in regards to the blast. He also indicated that North Korea has enough plutonium on hand now to produce weapons and that the last inspection of their nuclear capacity had occurred over 3 years ago. If the North Koreans had assembled one or more nuclear weapons, ElBaradei said he would not be surprised. North Korea has been upping the ante as of late and on Saturday the official news agency KCNA indicated that the North would never dismantle its program and that talks would not resume unless the United States changed its �hostile� policy. The US continues to pursue a 6 party talks aimed at eliminating the North Korean nuclear program for an exchange of security and energy aid. Other parties to these talks include Russia, Japan, China, and South Korea.

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