Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As chairman of the Australia-Korea Parliamentary Group I want to join the Prime Minister, the foreign minister and other members of this parliament in expressing my outrage at yesterday’s testing of a nuclear weapon by the North Korean regime. I want to condemn in the strongest possible language North Korea’s dangerous and totally provocative action. As the world now knows, yesterday, at 11.36 am Australian Eastern Standard Time, North Korea joined the existing club of eight nuclear countries when it tested its nuclear device in the Hamgyongbuk-do region in North Korea.

Last night, I had the opportunity to speak to South Korea’s ambassador here in Canberra, Ambassador Cho, and conveyed my strong outrage and personal support of his government in their deep concerns for the people of South Korea. I would like to read into the parliamentary record the statement issued by the South Korean government. I think it is appropriate that members be aware of it. Paragraph 2 in particular reads:

This action taken by North Korea poses a grave threat that undermines stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula as well as in Northeast Asia. It is also an act of trampling on the hope of the international community to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue in its quest for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The world’s challenges are now, of course, all the more greater and all the more grave than could have been imagined. The threat of an arms race in the region is certainly now a distinct possibility. How could Japan, and South Korea especially, not wish to seek security and solace in the form of a greater military build-up and indeed in acquiring a nuclear capacity themselves? The new Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Shinzo Abe, has already expressed views that Japan should review its post World War II peace constitution to give Japan a greater status in global affairs, as befits Japan’s economic weight and influence in the 21st century.

North Korea has now joined, as I mentioned, eight other countries that have tested nuclear weapons—namely, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Pakistan, India and Israel. While the world’s leading countries have a great challenge to collectively confront the North Korean regime and leadership, no country more than China has a unique opportunity, a great responsibility and a special challenge in its foreign and defence policy thinking. China must use its immense influence with North Korea to bring calm and stability to the region. China’s ambassador to North Korea will no doubt be kept very busy, but, knowing Ambassador Liu Xiaoming as I do, I have every confidence in his skills and talents.

And how ironic it is, Mr Speaker, that a Korean now succeeds Kofi Annan as the next United Nations Secretary-General. The 192-member UN General Assembly must of course give final approval to Ban Ki-moon’s nomination, which usually follows within a week or two of endorsement, which was last night. Ban Ki-moon will bring a great capacity to his job as the new UN Secretary-General—the capacity to address this great challenge the world confronts. Again in my capacity as chairman of the Australia-Korea Parliamentary Group, I want to add my voice to the very warm congratulations on his imminent formal endorsement. As I said, it is quite ironic that a Korean is about to take the helm of an organisation that hitherto has failed in its efforts to address the tensions in the Korean peninsula.

Ban Ki-moon is a highly respected individual, a man of some 3½ decades of experience in the world of diplomacy and international affairs. He knows the workings of the UN, as a former ambassador for South Korea to the UN in 2001. He is a man of exceptional personal qualities and exceptional intellect and educational qualifications. He also knows how the world of government and politics functions, being a vice-minister and foreign minister of his country. I take the opportunity again in this parliament to formally express my support for his nomination and wish him very well in his new stewardship of the UN. The UN has a great opportunity in the 21st century to attend to some of the world’s most difficult issues, and none more so than the one we see today in the Korean peninsula. The United Nations has a bureaucracy of some 9,000 people, with a $US5 billion budget. It has more than 90,000 peacekeepers in 18 operations around the globe which cost another $US5 billion. The challenge is immense. The opportunity is special. I wish Ban Ki-moon all the very best in endeavours that affect everyday people around the world. (Time expired)

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 9.30 pm, the debate is interrupted.