Australia condemns in the strongest possible terms the provocative and dangerous behaviour of the North Korean regime, which claims to have detonated a nuclear bomb today.

This will be the fourth time that North Korea has conducted a nuclear bomb test, in direct violation of unanimous United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013) and 2094 (2013), which ban further nuclear tests by North Korea.

North Korea’s actions fly in the face of international non-proliferation norms, and challenge the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

North Korea’s ongoing development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, and its proliferation of sensitive technologies, threaten the peace and security of Australia’s friends and partners in our region and beyond.

Today’s nuclear test confirms North Korea’s status as a rogue state and a continuing threat to international peace and security. We will intensify our counter-proliferation cooperation with partners to strengthen sanctions, aiming to reduce the funding of North Korea’s WMD programs.
Australia will make our concerns known to the North Korean Government directly, as well as in international and regional forums.

We call on international bodies, including the UN Security Council, to provide a strong response to North Korea’s actions.

Australia will continue to work with our friends and partners to support the security of the Republic of Korea and the stability of our region.