Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a seminar the Security Council has set "the worst precedent of all" with its handling of North Korea.

He said it took seven years for North Korea to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 1992, but it has since been in non-compliance -- culminating with its withdrawal from the nuclear safeguards regime in 2003.

"Naturally all of these actions were promptly reported by the IAEA to the Security Council -- but with little to no response," he said in a speech to the Pugwash anti-nuclear weapons conference.

He warned that the wrong signal was being sent to other countries seeking nuclear weapons.

"This type of reaction by the Council may be setting the worst precedent of all if it conveys the message that acquiring a nuclear deterrent, by whatever means, will neutralize any compliance mechanism and bring about preferred treatment," ElBaradei said.

The IAEA chief, however, said "verification and diplomacy, used in conjunction, can be effective" in international efforts to curb the global spread of nuclear weapons.

Three rounds of six-way talks -- which involve the United States, Japan, China, Russia and the two Koreas -- have tackled North Korea's nuclear issue.

But little progress has been made so far. A fourth round was scheduled for September but was boycotted by North Korea.

"People in the international community are getting impatient to see quick results and to see North Korea turning back to the non-proliferation regime," ElBaradei told a news conference before his speech to the forum.

The nuclear stand-off began in October 2002 when the United States accused North Korea of operating a nuclear weapons programme based on enriched uranium in violation of a 1994 agreement.

Pyongyang has denied running the uranium-based program but has restarted its plutonium program.

ElBaradei's agency is also investigating South Korea's shock revealations of past unauthorized nuclear experiments.

He praised Seoul for cooperating fully with the probe, with his agency expected to dispatch one or two more teams this month to look into South Korea's past record of nuclear activity.

"We have not seen any cover-up," he said. "We are getting good cooperation from the South Korean government."

The IAEA sent inspectors here twice last month after Seoul revealed that its scientists secretly enriched a tiny amount of plutonium in 1982 and uranium in 2000.

South Korea says its laboratory experiments with potential ingredients for bombs were not linked to nuclear weapons programs.

North Korea has accused the United States of applying double standards concerning the nuclear issues of the two Koreas but ElBaradei said there were no parallels between the two cases.

The North has cited concern about Seoul's nuclear experiments as one reason for boycotting new multilateral talks about its own atomic weapons drive.

Its foreign ministry Wednesday said the UN watchdog was playing down the gravity of South Korean nuclear activities.

"What should not be overlooked is that senior officials of the IAEA in charge of the case are making remarks intended to hush it up as early as possible while downplaying the gravity of the case," a ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman demanded South Korea's nuclear experiments be discussed at talks aimed at ending the impasse over the North's nuclear program.

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