SEOUL, July 6 US President Bill Clinton has changed lodging plans In South Korea this weekend after a boiler room explosion badly damaged the hotel where he was due to stay, Foreign Ministry officials said today, reports Reuter.

"As far as we know, the White House has decided to change accommodation for President Clinton because of the hotel blast. But no official notification from the US side has yet been made," a Foreign Ministry official said

"We do not know what he (Clinton) is doing." a US embassy spokesman said.

State radio and the domestic Yonhap News Agency said Clinton and his entourage would stay at the Hotel Shllla, another deluxe hotel in Seoul.

The US side has made reservations for some 250 rooms at our hotel after the explosion at the Grand Hyatt Hotel," a Shllla spokesman said. But it was not known whether Clinton himself would stay there, he added.

He said most members of

the US advance team and now moved to the hotel.

Three people were hurt when a boiler room explosion rocked the Grand Hyatt early on Monday morning.

About 600 guests, including 150 members of a White House advance team, were evacuated after the blast blew out plateglass doors at the front and rear of the hotel, on a hill south of the city centre.

The blast ripped through the floor at the eastern end of the Hyatt lobby, leaving a gaping hole.