North Korea has warned Australia it is “suicidal” to conduct military drills with the United States after a handful of Australian troops began an annual war game with the US and South Korea on Monday.
Tens of thousands of military personnel are involved in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, a 10-day exercise in South Korea that simulates war on the Korean Peninsula.
About 25 Australian troops join 17,500 from the US and 50,000 from South Korea, as well as a small number from Canada, Colombia, Denmark, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
On Saturday, a spokesman for North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told state news agency KCNA that Australia’s participation is aggravating the situation in the region.
The North Korean spokesman referred to the ANZUS military treaty between Australia, the United States and New Zealand, saying if Australia follows the US into war it will feel the “counter-measures of justice”.
“Not long after the Australian Prime Minister had stated that they would join in the aggressive moves of the US, even referring to ANZUS which exists in name only, the Australian military announced that they would dispatch their troops to the aggressive nuclear exercises of the US,” the spokesman said.
“Australia followed the US to the Korean War, the Vietnamese War and the ‘war on terrorism’, but heavy loss of lives and assets were all that it got in return.
“The Australian government had better devote time and energy to maintaining peace of its own country, instead of forgetting the lessons learned in the past and joining the US in the moves for nuclear war.
“Countries like Australia that join the military adventure against the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea], blindly following the US, will never avoid the counter-measures of justice by the DPRK.”
On Monday evening, Malcolm Turnbull said North Korea needed to be brought to its senses.
“North Korea has shown it has no regard for the welfare of its own population, no regard for the security and good relations with its neighbours and no regard for international law,” Mr Turnbull told the ABC.