Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has delivered a blistering rebuke to the North Korean regime, suggesting it should spend money on the welfare of its citizens, not weapons of mass destruction.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Ms Bishop's comments come after the North Korean foreign ministry personally criticised her and warned Australia was "coming within the range of the nuclear strike".
The Foreign Minister hit back at the hermit kingdom on Sunday after its bellicose threats against Australia and its allies in the region.
"North Korea's threats of nuclear strikes against other nations further underlines the need for the regime to abandon its illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs," she said.
"These present a grave threat to its neighbours and if left unchecked, to the broader region including Australia."
"The North Korean government should invest in the welfare of its long-suffering citizens, rather than weapons of mass destruction."
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have racheted up in recent weeks and there are renewed concerns that North Korea may conduct its sixth nuclear test on Wednesday, the 85th anniversary of its military, and China said this week it was "gravely concerned".
The United States, Australia and other regional powers have been calling on China to step up pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
In Japan last week, Ms Bishop said Australia supported the "United States' approach that all options be on the table with regard to curbing North Korea's illegal and belligerent behaviour" and flagged the prospect of further sanctions.
That prompted the furious response from North Koreans. According to a translation of a report by the North Korean state news agency KCNA, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of North Korea directly criticised Ms Bishop.
"The present government of Australia is blindly and zealously toeing the US line. It is hard to expect good words from the foreign minister of such government," the North Korean spokesman said, adding the Korean Peninsula "is inching close to the brink of war in an evil cycle of increasing tensions" and blaming US policy.
"If Australia persists in following the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and remains a shock brigade of the US master, this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of the DPRK."
In the past fortnight North Korean state media has issued daily hyperbolic threats to the United States, while boasting on the front page of its Rodong Sinmun newspaper of the many mentions of its leader Kim Jong-un in international media coverage of the Korean Peninsula crisis. North Korean media similarly attacked South Korean acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn when US Vice-President Mike Pence arrived in South Korea on Monday, and threatened Japan days later.
North Korean state media continues to make the false claim that North Korea can strike its enemies anywhere on earth. It also frequently reports wild conspiracy theories, such as on Friday claiming the US was planning to use chemical weapons against North Korea.
The KCNA report continued: "The Australian Foreign Minister had better think twice about the consequences to be entailed by her reckless tongue-lashing before flattering the US."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pledged support on Saturday for the US policy on North Korea and again urged China to do more to place economic pressure on North Korea.
North Korea's nuclear threat dominated talks between Mr Turnbull and visiting US Vice-President Pence.
China has turned back coal shipments to North Korea in recent weeks, one of the regime's few sources of funding. Chinese media have speculated the Chinese government is also considering cutting oil supplies.
Labor's defence spokesman Richard Marles says North Korea's threat of a nuclear strike on Australia is of enormous concern but such threats have become part of the regime's day-to-day rhetoric.
But he did not believe conflict on the Korean peninsula was particularly likely and backed the approach the US has taken on North Korea.
"I do think a harder edge being presented by America in respect of North Korea is not a bad thing," Mr Marles told Sky News on Sunday.
He believed the early signs coming out of China, an ally of North Korea, were positive, it saying if the problem is going to be dealt with it needs to be through "China, America and the whole world".
with AAP
