N. Korea may have restarted N-reactor: IAEA

• Integrity Education, Delhi
• 31, Aug 2021

• The development on the 5megawatt reactor in Yongbyon — North Korea’s main nuclear complex — comes with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington at a standstill.
• There have been indications, including the discharge of cooling water, consistent with the operation of the reactor.
• IAEA inspectors were kicked out of North Korea in 2009, and the agency has since monitored it from outside.

Negotiations

• North Korea is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
• North Korean leader Kim Jongun offered to dismantle part of the Yongbyon complex at a second summit with then U.S. President Donald Trump but not other sites, in exchange for sanctions relief, and his offer was rejected.

About IAEA

• Headquarters: Vienna, Austria
• IAEA is the international centre for cooperation in the nuclear field.
• Widely known as the world’s “Atoms for Peace and Development” organization within the United Nations family.
• The IAEA reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
• The IAEA was created in 1957 in response to the deep fears and expectations generated by the discoveries and diverse uses of nuclear technology.
• The Agency’s genesis was U.S. President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on 8 December 1953.