International Atomic Energy Agency

The International Atomic Energy Agency is the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field.

Widely known as the world’s “Atoms for Peace and Development” organization, IAEA works for the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, contributing to international peace and security and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The IAEA is an autonomous international organization within the United Nations system. It partners with more than a dozen UN organizations, thereby helping extend the reach of its services.
IAEA reports annually to the UN General Assembly.
Created in 1957, the IAEA Secretariat is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
Total Membership: 172 (including India).

The main functions of the IAEA are to:
- encourage and assist research, development and practical application of atomic energy for peaceful uses throughout the world;
- establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that such activity assisted by the Agency is not used to further any military purpose;
- apply safeguards to relevant activities at the request of Member States;
- apply, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other international treaties, mandatory comprehensive safeguards in non-nuclear weapon States (NNWS) Parties to such treaties.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that North Korea appears to have restarted its Yongbyon nuclear reactor since July, 2021, suggesting that it handled a full batch of spent fuel.
Plutonium, which is used for nuclear weapons, is believed to be produced at the reactor’s complex. According to the IAEA, this was the first sign of operational activity at the reactor since December 2018, months after US President Donald Trump met Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
The agency said, the developments at the reactor and laboratory are deeply troubling and it is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
North Korea has continued to develop nuclear weapons since IAEA inspectors were expelled by Pyongyang in 2009.

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