VIENNA, January 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The international standoff with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions should be brought before the U.N. Security Council, the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Friday, January 31.

"North Korea is in non-compliance" with agreements on nuclear non-proliferation, Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters.

ElBaradei said he had given the IAEA's governing board a report asking them to clear the way for the standoff to be brought before the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions against Pyongyang, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

North Korea sparked an international crisis in December when it withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and expelled IAEA inspectors as it moved to restart a plutonium reactor.

"They can start producing within six months quite a significant amount of material," he said, adding that it would be "a serious issue, a grave concern for us all."

That fits with an assessment by U.S. analysts based on spy satellite photos, which have shown that North Korea has begun moving nuclear fuel rods, possibly to a reprocessing plant to convert them into bomb-grade plutonium, The New York Times said Friday quoting U.S. officials.

An IAEA spokeswoman told AFP that the IAEA's five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Japan and South Korea would meet Friday to discuss when to convene the 35-member board.

ElBaradei said he would like the governors to meet on February 12.

A U.N. official had previously told AFP the meeting had been postponed from February 3 since South Korea wanted more time to pursue diplomatic efforts to end the three-month-old crisis.

But the South Korean government's top envoy to North Korea returned home empty-handed from Pyongyang this week after he was snubbed by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

An IAEA source said Thursday, January 30, the delay in setting a date was because some nations were "concerned about the wording of the resolution on North Korea" that would be brought to the Security Council, which is being prepared at the informal meetings.

A verdict of non-compliance from the IAEA would normally automatically bring the question before the U.N. Security Council, who ElBaradei said would "then be seized with the matter and take it from there."

The Security Council could impose sanctions on North Korea, something Pyongyang has warned would lead to war.

The United States has been insisting that North Korea's decision to pull out of the NPT after expelling IAEA inspectors be referred without delay to the Security Council.

Russia has said that if the Security Council were to impose sanctions against North Korea, it would be considered a "declaration of war" by Pyongyang.

Washington has, however, given assurances that it wants to resolve the crisis peacefully and would not seek sanctions for now.

The nuclear crisis began in October with allegations by Washington that North Korea was pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

The United States said at the end of that month that Pyongyang had admitted to operating a secret nuclear program to enrich uranium in violation of a 1994 deal that ended a previous nuclear showdown.