Senator Biden's post now in the Delegates' Lounge will be the last installment of our Post on Peace series, dedicated to a discussion on conflict and its causes broadly defined. Over the last few months, we have hosted commentary by two other legislators, Congressman Donald Payne and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey; academics Stephen Schlesinger, John Prendergast, and Susan Rice; UN officials like the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the former Head of the UNFPA, and two representatives from the UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia (link and link); a former U.S. Perm Rep to the UN; and, of course, Mark Goldberg's comprehensive Keeping the Peace series.

It's time to take the banner down, but you can always find the posts in our archives. We hope you've enjoyed the series and will continue to visit UN Dispatch for commentary on conflict and all other matters related to multilateralism and diplomacy.

Without much fanfare, there has been a recent flury of progress toward actual, verifiable North Korean nuclear disarmament. In the latest development, the IAEA announced this morning that a team should be on the ground by Saturday, July 14 to oversee the shutdown of the plutonium producing Yongbyon facility.

So what does this mean for the wider non-proliferation debate? It would seem that Security Council sanctions, backed by regional diplomacy and direct bi-lateral engagement with the United States can coax a country away from its nuclear ambitions.

In February, the six party talks yielded its first breakthrough since North Korea withdrew from the nonproliferation treaty in January 2003. North Korea, incidentally, agreed to return to the six party process only one month after the the Security Council slapped sanctions on North Korea in October 2006. Per the February arrangement, DPRK promised to dismantle the facility at Yongbyon in exchange for a package of food and fuel subsidies. But as the deadline approached in May, Pyonyang balked, demanding that the United States release $25 million in frozen North Korean assets. Then, on June 22 Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill made a surprise visit to Pyongyang to shore up the deal.

This was the first face-to-face meeting with a high level American official in five years. It seems to have helped move things along. Six days later June 28, an IAEA assessment team traveled to the Yongbyon facility to hammer out a technical agreement that would allow the IAEA to oversee its shutdown. This, I should note, was the first time that an IAEA team set foot in North Korea since 2002. Now, by the end of the week, an IAEA North Korean mission will be on hand to verify the closure of Yongbyon. This is progress.

The United Nations Population Fund has chosen "Men as Partners in Maternal Health" as the theme of World Population Day.

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid says, "Men are equal partners in making the new life that the women will deliver." She added, "Experience shows that male involvement can make a substantial difference when it comes to preserving the health and lives of women and children."

To promote their campaign, the UNFPA is supporting programs worldwide that foster partnership with men in battling maternal health problems and mortality, as well as programs that encourage men to take greater responsibility in the education and well-being of their daughters.

Find out more about the campaign here, and watch a video here.