IAEA Board of Governors Meeting: 7-11 March 2016
Statement by HE Mr David Stuart, Resident Representative to the IAEA
Agenda Item 8 (c): Application of Safeguards in the DPRK
Mr Chair,
Australia condemns in the strongest possible terms the DPRK’s 6 January nuclear test and 7 February long-range ballistic missile launch. The DPRK’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. Australia welcomes IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s statement on 6 January 2016, strongly urging the DPRK to implement fully all relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the IAEA.
Mr Chair,
The DPRK’s ballistic missile launch, so closely following its fourth nuclear test, has further aggravated the already tense situation on the Korean Peninsula. These provocations are clear examples of the DPRK regime choosing militarism and isolation over the welfare of its own people. These actions challenge the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The DPRK is the only exception to the nuclear test moratorium in the 21st century, defying the purpose of the CTBT.
Australia welcomes UN Security Council Resolution 2270 unanimously adopted on 2 March which strengthens significantly international sanctions which target sources of revenue used by the DPRK to finance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Australia, along with 52 other nations, co-sponsored the resolution signalling that the international community will not tolerate the DPRK’s provocative and dangerous conduct. Australia will fully implement these sanctions and calls on all UN member states, in our region and beyond, to do their utmost to fully comply with these new measures. We will work closely with the international community to improve implementation of the new and existing sanctions to target the DPRK’s capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction. We are also reviewing our autonomous sanctions to determine appropriate additional measures. We will continue to work with our friends and partners in the region, including the Republic of Korea, Japan and China, to uphold peace and stability in North Asia.
Mr Chair,
Australia joins others in urging the DPRK to abandon its nuclear weapons program in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner. Australia calls on the DPRK to cease its nuclear-weapons program; comply with IAEA resolutions calling for a restart of full cooperation with the IAEA and its safeguards obligations; heed the requirements of the UN Security Council to cease its nuclear activities; and fulfil its commitments to denuclearise under the 2005 Six-Party Talks Joint Statement and under relevant UN Security Council Resolutions.
We support the IAEA maintaining its readiness to play a key role in verifying the DPRK’s nuclear program.