India signs nuclear deal with South Korea

NEW DELHI: India and South Korea signed a civil nuclear agreement on Monday, a deal that gives the north-east Asian country an entry into India’s nuclear energy sector. The deal, India’s ninth, was signed by President Pratibha Patil in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak. President Lee termed the nuclear cooperation agreement as “historic” and which would act as “a milestone, demonstrating that our two countries have now truly become strategic partners” .

Negotiated over three rounds, the last in December, the India-South Korea agreement carried the least amount of historical nuclear “baggage ” as far as India is concerned . Officials involved in the negotiations described them as “clear, pragmatic and smooth” . The deal was always going to be an easier sell than the India-Japan deal. Japan, said sources, may have quietly dropped the demand that India sign the CTBT, but they continue to hold out a laundry list of actions India must take to reassure them before they can sign the deal.