A Comparative Study of the Nuclear Program of I.R. of Iran and North Korea from International Atomic Energy Agency Perspective up to 2015

The issue of using nuclear energy has attracted the world attention. In 1957, International Agency of Nuclear Energy was founded with the aim of prohibiting states form deviating substances and nuclear equipment and using them in military and non-peaceful fields and it undertook inspection and supervision of states’ nuclear activities. There are different documents in the shape of international treaties that bring about certain commitments for the member-states and creating a framework under which international supervision will allow them to use peaceful nuclear energy. Iran and North Korea are among those countries which have faced the reaction of the international society for their nuclear energy program. The focus of this research work is to study and review the functioning and attitude of IAEA towards the nuclear programs of these two countries. Therefore, the main question of this research is as to what has been the attitude of IAEA towards the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea? The hypothesis is based on the fact that the work and attitude of IAEA towards the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea has not been according to the Statute of IAEA and the NPT and it has followed a double-standard attitude towards these two countries. The research findings indicate the truth that despite of Iranian compliance International and cooperation with NPT and North Korean non-compliance and withdrawal from NPT, the attitude of IAEA has been influenced by the great powers and quite discriminative towards both Iran and North Korea. The research is done through a comparative method by applying the concept of international security regimes and using both primary and secondary data including documents, interviews, books, articles and internet sites.