"We need ... to bite the bullet and find the way to talk to them (North Koreans), to talk to the Iranians, to talk to all other adversaries because without dialogue we are not moving forward," ElBaradei said at Georgetown University, after meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"I think in all these issues, dialogue is indispensable. I think we have to move away from the idea that dialogue is a reward; dialogue is an essential tool to change behaviour," the IAEA director general said.
"Export control is not sufficient ... we really need to go and understand ... why these countries are tempted to develop nuclear weapons," the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said.
ElBaradei acknowledged North Korea's first nuclear test on October 9 was a "setback" for the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but called it "a cry for help" by the North Korean regime, which believes its survival is threatened.
"I don't think sanctions work as a penalty," he said, in reference to UN Security Council sanctions imposed after Pyongyang's nuclear test.
In addition, he dismissed the idea that the test would have a domino effect in the region, pressing other countries, such as Japan and South Korea, to obtain their own nuclear weapons.
Iran is a different case, he said.
"From the Iran perspective, the key is to normalise relationships with the US," he said, adding that Iranians "would like to be respected, recognised as a regional power."
According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, ElBaradei had discussed with Rice a proposed international nuclear fuel bank.
"We have very similar views in terms of international fuel supply guarantees," McCormack said at a briefing with reporters.
The proposed nuclear fuel bank being debated at the IAEA is aimed at deterring countries such as Iran from developing their own means of uranium enrichment to make reactor fuel and possibly nuclear weapons.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006