Australian PM condemns DPRK's nuclear test

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday condemned a nuclear test by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"I am advised that there is seismic confirmation that North Korea (DPRK) conducted a nuclear test earlier today," Howard told parliament.

"In those circumstances I would condemn, and I would assume I would have the unanimous agreement of the House in doing so, the test in the strongest possible terms," he said.

Howard said the test had destablised the region and eroded DPRK's own security.

"A strong international response is called for and Australia will give full support to that response," he said.

Howard said Australia planned to lobby the UN Security Council to take a swift action against DPRK.

"We will... advocate a UN Security Council regime against the DPRK that includes targeted financial and travel sanctions, other trade restrictions and/or aviation restrictions," he said.

"Australia will also actively promote with other like-minded countries a concerted strong international response through key regional mechanisms such as APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) regional forum," he said.

DPRK announced earlier Monday that it had conducted a successful nuclear test.

"The test is 100 percent safe," said the official Korean Central News Agency, adding that there was "no radioactive leak."

It was reported that South Korea's intelligence agency had detected a 3.58 magnitude seismic tremor at the time of the test.

Source: Xinhua