Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—As members will be aware, North Korea claimed it had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test on 25 May and subsequently carried out a short-range missile test. This is an unacceptable, provocative and destabilising act by North Korea. All indications point to this being another deliberate step by North Korea in its systematic efforts to acquire a nuclear capability and the means of delivering it. These actions obtain the absolute condemnation of the government of Australia as fundamentally inconsistent with the security of our region and Australia’s own long-term national security.

While formal verification procedures have not concluded, all indications point to a test having been carried out. Seismic signals consistent with a one- to three-kiloton nuclear explosion in the vicinity of the site of North Korea’s last nuclear test in October 2006 have been detected by monitoring stations of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation around the world, including in Australia. Confirmation there has been a nuclear explosion will depend on collection and analysis of emissions from the explosion and is still expected to take some days. The fact that North Korea also tested a short-range missile yesterday was a calculated and further provocation following its 5 April ballistic missile launch, and there are now reports of further possible missile tests by North Korea. This behaviour is unacceptable on the part of the North Korean regime and further undermines regional security.

If substantiated, this North Korean nuclear test represents yet another step towards North Korea refining an effective working nuclear weapons capability which directly affects Australia’s national security. First indications suggest this test was larger than previous tests. Clearly, this demonstrates North Korea’s intention to proceed down the path of developing nuclear weapons in the face of international condemnation. At the same time, North Korea appears to be making steady progress in its ability to refine delivery mechanisms, especially in the area of missile technology. I note the recent missile tests and the clear intent to refine and improve this missile technology. The marriage of these two parallel developments is of the greatest concern to the Australian community and to the international community. Australia and the international community must work in concert to thwart North Korean efforts to marry its nuclear weapons capability with an effective long-range delivery vehicle.

North Korea’s reckless actions have earned the condemnation of the international community. It is critical that the international community takes a strong and unified position against this unacceptable act aimed squarely at escalating tensions within our own region. The Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States, China and Russia have all condemned in the strongest terms North Korea’s latest test. It is important the international community works together to address this serious threat to the peace and security of the region and of the world. North Korea is displaying a pattern of reckless disregard for the international community in its behaviour and it represents a flagrant breach of UN Security Council resolution 1718, which condemned North Korea’s 2006 nuclear test and called for an end to missile testing and imposed sanctions on trade in a range of goods with North Korea.

The UN Security Council met in an emergency session overnight and agreed to move straight to consideration of a new UN Security Council resolution. Australia is fully supportive of this decision. As the Minister for Foreign Affairs has said this morning, Australia shares the UNSC condemnation of the North Korea nuclear test and supports a new UN Security Council resolution which will not only reinforce UN Security Council resolution 1718 but also contain new, additional measures against North Korea. The foreign minister has asked Australia’s acting ambassador to the United Nations to contact the permanent representatives of all 15 current members of the UN Security Council to register the importance of a decisive response by the international community to North Korea’s action. Australia currently has strong, autonomous sanctions in place against North Korea: a visa ban applies to all North Korean nationals, North Korean flagged ships are banned from entering Australia and all bilateral aid is suspended.

The North Korean test reminds us of the importance of the international community insisting on adherence to the norms set out in the comprehensive test ban treaty, which prohibits nuclear tests. The North Korean action only strengthens the government’s conviction that Australia play an active role in enhancing the CTBT regime, because this directly affects Australia’s national interests. The Australian ambassador in Vienna is also currently chair of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation and is working hard to take forward international adherence to the CTBT. We also call on North Korea to re-engage with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and co-operate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency. I am also pleased that the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, established a year ago and co-chaired by Australia and Japan, is working to bring about the consensus needed to make these non-proliferation regimes more effective for the future.

Today I have spoken with President Lee of the Republic of Korea and I am scheduled to speak to Prime Minister Aso of Japan this afternoon. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has spoken to the United States Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and Foreign Minister Yu of the Republic of Korea. At my request, our ambassador in Washington has reflected the government’s position with the National Security Council of the United States and with the US Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Ambassador Steven Bosworth. In all of this we are registering Australia’s deep concern at the North Korean test and considering further ways that we can work together to thwart North Korea’s future nuclear ambitions. North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are an increasing threat to regional security, to Australia’s national security and to the wider international community. We must work with our friends and our allies around the region on this threat now to ensure that this emerging threat is contained in the future.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent Mr Turnbull speaking in reply to the ministerial statement for a period not exceeding 7 minutes.

Question agreed to.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the coalition, I join with the Prime Minister in condemning the extremely provocative decision of North Korea to detonate another nuclear device. This blatant act of defiance amounts to a direct repudiation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1718. In effect, the North Korean regime has returned to its default setting of brinkmanship and confrontation. Its delinquent behaviour not only challenges the authority of the United Nations Security Council but also represents a profound threat to peace and stability in our region. North Korea cannot feed its starving population and yet, ignoring the basic needs of its own people, it has diverted significant resources to develop and detonate a nuclear device which, according to some estimates, had the same explosive power as the Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in August 1945.

Today is not the time or place to engage in theorising about what drives this belligerent, destabilising and frankly bewildering behaviour. The fact is that North Korea is dangerously unpredictable, the one relic of the Cold War era that has not come in from the cold. What does seem to be clear is that yesterday’s test was significantly more powerful than North Korea’s 2006 nuclear weapons test. That attempt, by almost all estimates, failed. But the sad truth in this most dreadful of sciences is that weapons engineers can sometimes learn more from failure than from success. On this occasion the magnitude of the explosion has been estimated to be as high as 5.3 on the Richter scale. Russia and South Korea have released estimates suggesting a 10- to 20-kiloton yield from the underground explosion. By contrast, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation has released estimates in the low, single-digit kiloton range.

As the Minister for Foreign Affairs told the House yesterday, definitive assessments must await the testing of atmospheric samples which will take some time to emerge. But what is not in doubt is the message of provocation North Korea intended to send and the apprehension and anxiety it has deliberately sought to generate, coming only weeks after its firing of a long-range missile towards the Sea of Japan. We note the solemn reactions around our region. We note that South Korea has been forced to place its military on heightened alert. We were honoured to meet in Sydney recently the new President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-Bak. As he is the leader of a key democratic partner of Australia in this region, I was glad to hear of his resolute and principled approach to dealings between Seoul and Pyongyang. We note also, and support wholeheartedly, Japan’s demand for strong and effective international action and we welcome the signals from the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York overnight which would suggest a more robust, binding resolution may be negotiated by as early as tonight.

We in the opposition believe that all possible pressure must be brought to bear upon the North Korean military regime to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Under the Howard government, Australia took part in the Five Plus Five talks, an attempt by the broader region to persuade North Korea to abandon its illicit weapons program. Likewise, we strongly supported the six-party talks—involving the US, China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas—as the best mechanism involving the major powers of East Asia to convince North Korea to become a constructive member of the international community. We have joined in proactive efforts regionally and internationally to stop the illicit trade in nuclear weapons technology, through our contributions to the proliferation security initiative.

The need for a resolute international response to North Korea’s delinquency relates not just to peace and stability in our own region but to the wider imperatives of global security, for the fear and concern of everyone who aspires to peace must be that where North Korea goes others soon will follow. I note that the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is refusing to hold talks over his country’s nuclear programs with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. It raises this question: has the world’s failure to respond appropriately to North Korea’s flagrant defiance of international protocols had the effect of emboldening others to do the same? It represents a stark reminder, if one is needed, that the world cannot afford to stand back and allow the UN Security Council to be defied. We welcome the efforts of our acting ambassador at the United Nations to press for a robust international response and we trust that the United Nations can and will agree to deliver new and additional measures that will persuade and impress upon North Korea that its policy of blackmail and brinkmanship will not be rewarded.