The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) will attend a ceremony marking the completion of a nuclear reactor during his scheduled visit to South Korea next week

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi will visit the country from next Tuesday to Friday at the invitation of the South Korean foreign ministry.

The ministry said on Thursday that Grossi will attend a ceremony for the completion of Shin Hanul reactor 1 in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province next Wednesday. 

The reactor was completed in 2020 ten years after the construction began in 2010, and received approval for operation from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission in July last year.

The reactor was originally scheduled to begin commercial operation in April 2017, but the plan was put on hold after an earthquake struck in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

The IAEA chief will meet with Foreign Minister Park Jin and other senior government officials during his four-day trip to discuss North Korea's nuclear development and Japan's plan to discharge radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean next spring.