Minister of Science and Technology Oh Myung met with the chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Vienna Thursday evening to reassure him of South Korea's dedication to nuclear nonproliferation.

The meeting comes ahead of a November 25th board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in which it will decide whether to refer South Korea's past nuclear experiments to the U.N. Security Council.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei reportedly responded positively to Oh's remarks, thanking the Seoul government for actively cooperating with IAEA inspectors and expressing hope that the case will be closed as a regular IAEA investigation.

ElBaradei, however, did not rule out the possibility of the case being handed over to the Security Council.

Seoul has come under investigation for nuclear experiments conducted by South Korean scientists between 1978 and 2001 that produced small amounts of plutonium and enriched uranium.