VIENNA, Sept 24 (AFP) - The United Nations atomic agency called Friday for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and for North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs.
It was expected to pass later Friday a resolution on fighting "nuclear and radiological terrorism".
On the last day of its week-long annual conference, the 137-nation International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution that "affirms the urgent need for all states in the Middle East to forthwith accept the application of full-scope agency safeguards to all their nuclear activities ... as a step in enchancing peace and security in the context of the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone".
The IAEA's call for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, which was adopted by consensus, did not name Israel specifically but was clearly aimed at the Jewish state, which is believed to be the only nation in the region with atomic weapons.
The IAEA also called on North Korea "to completely dismantle any nuclear weapons program" and to allow international inspectors to return to monitor nuclear activities there, after they were kicked out of the country in December 2002.
North Korea, which says it has nuclear weapons, withdrew in January 2003 from the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), which sets the safeguards the IAEA is meant to enforce.
Chang-Beom Cho, South Korea's ambassador to the IAEA, said North Korea "must give up all its nuclear weapons and related programs, including its uranium enrichment program in a thorough and transparent manner ... so that this issue does not arise again in the future".
The IAEA's demand for a nuclear-free Middle East did not specifically mention Israel, which neither confirms nor denies that it has atomic weapons and is the only state in the region which has not signed the NPT.
Israel, which is an IAEA member, is believed to have up to 200 nuclear weapons.
Israel was part of the consensus in favour of the resolution, which was passed in time for the Israeli delegation to leave for the sundown start of the Jewish Yom Kippur festival, the holiest day in the Jewish year.
But the head of the Israeli atomic energy commission, Gideon Frank, reminded the IAEA conference of Israel's insistance that there must be an overall peace agreement in the Middle East before any nuclear-free zone could be created and that "no progress compromising national security is viable".
But Egypt's IAEA ambassador, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East was "something that cannot wait until there is a just and comprehensive peace but it is the very axis (of such a peace)".
The resolution was part of a compromise package worked out under US moderation. Israel agreed to support the call for a nuclear-free Middle East in return for an Arab proposal to discuss "Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat" being put off until next years's IAEA general conference.
This year's IAEA conference saw a showdown on Tuesday between the UN watchdog and Iran, which defied an IAEA ultimatum to immediately halt all uranium enrichment activities.
The United States has accused Tehran of engaging in an "unrelenting push toward nuclear weapons capability".
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors had last week adopted a resolution for Iran to "immediately" suspend all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle.
But Iranian atomic energy chief Reza Aghazadeh said this week that Tehran had begun the conversion of substantial amounts of uranium ore into the gas needed to enrich uranium, which makes nuclear fuel for reactors but can also be used to produce the explosive core of atomic bombs.
The IAEA has set a deadline of November 25, when its board of governors will next meet, for a definitive review of Iran's nuclear program. Washington is pushing for Iran to be sent before the UN Security Council, which could impose punishing sanctions.
Still to be passed before the end of the IAEA conference Friday was a resolution on fighting "nuclear and radiological terrorism".
That resolution continues on from others adopted by the IAEA since the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.
The aim was to "provide advice and training to (IAEA) member states on where their vulnerabilities are, how to beef up security on their borders and how to stop illicit trafficking", IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said.
In other developments at the conference, the IAEA elected a new board of governors and cleared the way for Chad, Mauritania and Togo to join, bringing the watchdog's members to 140.