アンチナショナリズム宣言

SYDNEY, Australia, Sept. 7 ― At the invitation of North Korea, an international delegation of nuclear experts from Russia, China and the United States will travel to the North next week to inspect nuclear sites that are to be shut down, the chief American envoy to the country said here on Friday.

The announcement, by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, came on a day when the North’s nuclear ambitions dominated the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum here, creating an awkward and testy exchange between President Bush and President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea over what would seem like a historical anachronism, the lack of a peace treaty ending the Korean War.

With Mr. Roh scheduled to go to Pyongyang to meet his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-il, next month, the South Korean leader used his photo opportunity with the president to make a public issue of the peace accord. With television cameras rolling, and Mr. Bush by his side, Mr. Roh publicly pressed the American president to declare a formal end to the hostilities ― something Mr. Bush has said he will not do until the North has completely scrapped its nuclear program.

“I said it’s up to Kim Jong-il,” Mr. Bush said, looking irked, “as to whether or not we’re able to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. He’s got to get rid of his weapons in a verifiable fashion. And we’re making progress toward that goal. It’s up to him.”

Officials said the inspections are an important step. Mr. Hill told reporters that the North, which has agreed to dismantle its nuclear facilities in return for economic aid, proposed the inspections in talks with the United States last week in Geneva.

But Mr. Hill did not disclose the plan until Friday evening in Sydney, after American officials had secured the approval of the other nations in the so-called six-party talks, the discussions aimed at ending the North’s nuclear program. Five of the six nations ― South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States ― are represented here.

Mr. Hill said the North had proposed several methods of disabling its plants; the experts will spend four days examining the “scope and the technical feasibility” of those plans. But there was no suggestion that the inspectors would be permitted to examine the North’s existing weapons caches and stores of plutonium.

They will report back to the six parties, who reconvene in mid-September, Mr. Hill said. The administration is hoping the North’s entire program will be dismantled by Dec. 31.

“This was an idea the North Koreans came up with,” Mr. Hill said in announcing the inspections. “I think it is a sign that this current phase of disabling is an ambitious phase. We have a lot of work to do, and I think it’s a sign of seriousness of purpose.”

Signing a peace treaty to replace the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War has been a key demand from North Korea in the talks. The United States was not a direct signatory to the armistice, which was put forth by the United Nations. But the North has insisted that it was developing nuclear weapons because of military threats from the United States, and that it would find no use for them once peace and its regime’s survival were guaranteed.