AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ,
CANBERRA: Australia said Monday it had summoned North Korea's ambassador to warn Pyongyang against conducting a long-range missile test and urge a return to talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the ambassador had been told that conducting a missile test would have “serious consequences”.
“Such action would be highly provocative and would further isolate the DPRK,” Downer said in a statement, referring to the country officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
His remarks followed similar warnings from the United States, Japan and South Korea.
North Korea shocked the world in 1998 by launching a Taepodong-1 missile that flew over Japan before crashing into the Pacific. Kim Jong-Il declared a moratorium on long-range missile tests in 1999 which ended in March 2005.
“Any test would be another example of North Korea violating the international commitments it has made,” Downer said, urging Pyongyang to resume negotiations with the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China on its atomic ambitions.
“North Korea would be gravely mistaken if it thinks that a missile test would improve its bargaining position in the six-party talks,” the statement added.
North Korea last year said it had nuclear weapons and since November has boycotted the six-nation talks, saying it would not come back to the bargaining table until the United States lifted sanctions against it.
