North Korea ramps up tensions with more missile tests
Updated
North Korea has made good of its threat to launch more missiles by firing another two short range missiles on Tuesday and is again warning the US against what it calls 'intimidation'. But the United Nations Security Council has begun work on a new resolution against North Korea, with Australia embarking on a diplomatic push along with the US, Japan and South Korea to tighten the sanctions noose around Pyongyang.
Presenter: Linda Mottram, Canberra correspondent
Speaker: Zhang Junsai, Chinese ambassador to Australia; Kasit Piromya, Thai foreign minister; Kevin Rudd, Australian prime minister
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MOTTRAM: North Korea's second nuclear explosion unleashed international fury. Some of the harshest diplomatic language has been deployed by the world's leaders as they've moved to try to reign in Pyongyang's rogue behaviour.
China's rebuke was particularly notable, given Beijing's diplomatic and economic support for Pyongyang. In Canberra, China's ambassador, Zhang Junsai, reiterated the position.
ZHANG: In this region, we are for the long term peace. And I think that every country is worried about the present situation. And that's why countries, including Australia, are calling for a stop to these tests and for a return to the six party talks.
MOTTRAM: A key question, though, is how will China use its influence over its neighbour to curtail the growing threat?
If the message to the communist North wasn't yet clear, the single voice of more than forty European and Asian nations, gathered in Vietnam's capital Hanoi for a discussion about the economy, must have underlined it.
In a statement, the countries at the Asia Europe Meeting collectively condemned North Korea, strongly urging it not to carry out further tests - amid threats it might this week launch more missiles - to comply with international requirements and return to the six-party disarmament talks.
Thailand's foreign minister, Kasit Piromya.
PIROMYA: I think everyone is quite unanimous that everyone is against this breach of the commitment not to test the nuclear and so on, and I hope that everything will go back to the six party talks.
MOTTRAM: Meanwhile telephone diplomacy was underway. In a call to South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak, US president Barack Obama assured Seoul it has Washington's support, in the decades long standoff along the border with the North, where two million troops face-off.
The US and South Korea along with Japan also agreed to work for a strong resolution from the security council.
Back in Canberra, where a new Australia-South Korea security agreement was announced just months ago, the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, described North Korea's actions as a serious threat to the peace and security of the region and the world, and part of a pattern of reckless disregard for international opinion. Mr Rudd told parliament the combined developments in both Pyongyang's nuclear and missile technologies was a key concern.
RUDD: Australian 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.
MOTTRAM: And Mr Rudd has stressed the need for unity of action.
RUDD: 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.
MOTTRAM: As the diplomatic efforts intensify, the push is on to craft new sanctions against the North, possibly extra financial and trade measures. The US could even put North Korea back on its terrorism blacklist, closing down sources of international finance. Australia says enforcement by more countries of existing sanctions is also important. The reference is most likely to point to China.
But there is a balance to be struck in all this, particularly from China's viewpoint. While the international community wants actions to match its tough talk, there's little interest in starving the North Korean people, and even less in making an already unpredictable situation in Pyongyang even more unstable.
