Progress In Iran And South Korea On Their Nuclear Programs?

Maybe.

If North Korea is serious about allowing inspectors into its nuclear facilities, that would be a start:

North Korea will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the country to ensure that it is not processing highly enriched uranium, US troubleshooter Bill Richardson said on Tuesday.

Any move to let IAEA staff return to North Korea, from where they were expelled in 2009, may help address mounting international concern about the North's atomic aims, even though there is scepticism about its motivations and whether it would grant the UN agency access to nuclear facilities.

Let's first see if the inspectors actually are allowed in, what they find and what will be done as a result.

Meanwhile, it is being reported:

Iran in secret talks on nuclear swap in bid to end sanctions:Iran has begun secret negotiations on proposals to surrender a substantial part of its uranium stockpile and suspend enriching nuclear fuel in return for an end to sanctions that have crippled the country's economy.

The Turkish-led deal calls on Iran to ship about 1,000 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium, as well as its entire 30 kilogram stockpile of 20-per cent enriched uranium, to a safe location.

In return, France and Russia will supply ready-made fuel rods for the medical isotope reactor for which Iran says it has been enriching uranium to 20 per cent – a level which halves the time needed to manufacture weapons-grade material.

This also sounds promising, until you read the part where--

A French diplomat told The Daily Telegraph the discussions consisted of "a lot of monologues".

The key of course will be the US policy--whether it retains the will to maintain the sanctions or will grab at the opportunity to declare a win and go home:

Last month, several influential senators called on Barack Obama, the US president, to reject any deal until Iran dismantled its uranium enrichment infrastructure.

But Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, recently said Iran could resume enrichment work "at some future date once they have demonstrated that they can do so in a responsible manner".

"The basic dilemma," a US diplomat said, "is this: should we pocket our winnings, and ship out whatever low-enriched uranium we can, or hold out for more in the hope sanctions will work?"

With the incoming Republican-controlled House, hopefully whatever is decided--it won't be done in haste.

But the fact of the matter is that for the White House the focus will be turning more and more to the next elections--and lessons learned from this past one. That will mean more attention to domestic issues. While that may be good news for Israel, where till now the Obama administration has been attempting to ram unilateral concessions down its throat--there are still other opportunities available to the White House to mess up in the Middle East.

Technorati Tag: South Korea and Iran.