Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. What is the government’s reaction to UN Security Council resolution 1718 adopted over the weekend condemning North Korea’s nuclear test and imposing sanctions?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Boothby for his question. I think it is the second question he has asked me about North Korea, and I appreciate his interest. The government welcomes the unanimous passage of Security Council resolution 1718, which was passed over the weekend. It is a very positive and significant step that the Security Council should unanimously take such strong action against North Korea in the wake of the nuclear test by the North Korean regime. This is a Security Council which includes China and Russia. China of course, in particular historically, has been very close to North Korea. Around half of all North Korea’s trade is with China and about 80 per cent of its aid and its energy comes from China. So there is a very deep relationship there, also born out of history. Yet China was prepared to go along with this tough resolution, a resolution that imposes measures, under chapter VII, which are binding on all members.

There will be a ban on the exports of North Korean arms related material. There will be a ban on North Korea’s imports of similar kinds of material and material related to missile programs as well. There will be a freeze on transactions of individuals and identities who have been involved in North Korea’s WMD activities. The UN members are also being called on to take cooperative action—consistent, of course, with international law—including through inspection of cargo.

In terms of Australia’s direct involvement in the inspection of North Korean cargo, this is a matter that we will be discussing with our friends and our allies once the United Nations Security Council sanctions committee has been established. But it is worth saying that the Proliferation Security Initiative, which this government has strongly supported from the outset and which now embraces something like 60 different countries, offers a very good framework within which inspections can take place, though of course those inspections will have to be fully consistent with international law.

I add that the Minister for Transport and Regional Services and I have agreed today that we will introduce in Australia a ban on North Korean vessels visiting Australian ports, except in the most dire of emergencies. I think this is appropriate. Members may recall a few years ago the so-called Pong Su incident, where a North Korean vessel unloaded large quantities of heroin on the Victorian coast. That vessel was eventually apprehended by the Royal Australian Navy and sunk by the Royal Australian Air Force. So the experience we have had of North Korean vessels visiting our shores is an unhappy one. If we are to ban North Korean vessels from visiting Australian ports, then I think that will help Australia make a quite clear contribution to the United Nations sanctions regime.