Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The member asked me about developments on the Korean Peninsula and the importance of that to peace and security and our national security interests and the need and importance for us to be working with other countries in that respect. Australia has been working on peace and security issues on the Korean Peninsula for 60 years. We were, of course, under a United Nations flag in the original hostilities on the Korean Peninsula, costing us 340 Australian personnel. More recently, we have been strongly supportive of United Nations sanctions so far as North Korea’s nuclear program is concerned and have worked closely with and supported members of the so-called ‘six-party talks’. Most recently—and this is the development to which the member’s question refers—we have been very closely involved in developments since the sinking of the South Korean corvette, the Cheonan. We made our expert officers available to work with the Republic of Korea and with officers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Canada to do an exhaustive scientific investigation of the causes of the sinking, which helped people come to the independent conclusion that the sinking was caused by actions of North Korea.

Since the publication of that report, we have been working very closely with our friends and neighbours in this respect, indicating to the Republic of Korea that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them. The Prime Minister has spoken recently to President Lee as I have in recent weeks to Foreign Minister Yu.

The Minister for Defence and I were in Japan for two-plus-two defence talks with our Japanese colleagues and had extensive consultations about this matter. We are now working very closely with United Nations Security Council members, both permanent and temporary, to see that there is an appropriate international community condemnation of this action by North Korea, which was belligerent, destabilising, contrary to international law and a violation of the armistice agreement.

Peace and security in the Korean Peninsula and in North Asia are very important to Australia. It is more than just the substantial, large and very important trading partners we have in North Asia—Japan, China and the Republic of Korea itself where engagement has been enhanced in the last couple of years not just economically but also on security, strategic and defence cooperation. We have admired the Republic of Korea’s restraint in this matter in the face of such belligerent, unlawful actions by North Korea, the DPRK.

The member asked me why, in these difficult international peace and security matters which have national security implications for Australia, it is important to work with other countries. It certainly is very important in these matters to be thoughtful and calm. It is certainly very important to carefully consider the advice one might receive from our national security agencies and not to discount that advice or throw it out the door for baseless reasons. It is very important to act in accordance with the established norms and conventions. There are ways in which we conduct ourselves while we are engaged in these difficult national security issues. It is important to understand that, when you are dealing in discussions with other parties, when you are dealing in discussions on national security issues, to keep a confidence. It is important to understand that many of these national security issues are highly confidential and it is important, therefore, to keep a confidence.

It is also important when you are engaged in discussions and negotiations with other interested parties that other parties know and understand that what you say is what you mean, and that you do not put yourself in the position when you say to other parties with whom you are having discussions, ‘You should only have confidence or rely upon the things that I write down, not the things that I say.’ You have to make sure that when you are dealing with these very sensitive national security matters that you are consistent in what you say and that you do not, for example, say something twice on the same day and then the same night say to others that it meant exactly the opposite. There are very important ways in which one needs to conduct—

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