Turnbull holds 'warm' talks with Trump on North Korea

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he’s had a warm and constructive call with US President Donald Trump on North Korea.

The pair held a half-hour discussion on Wednesday morning on the security threat posed by Kim Jong-un’s regime but also talked about IS in the Philippines.

“It was a very good call, very warm discussion, very constructive,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Naturally we focused on the threat posed by North Korea. We are absolutely of the one mind in condemning this reckless conduct.”

It was the pair’s third phone call since Mr Trump became President and follows their heated discussion in February – leaked details of which revealed the tense talks over the Australia-US refugee swap deal.

In their latest call, Mr Trump and Mr Turnbull reaffirmed the importance of the alliance and agreed that North Korea posed a “grave threat” to international security.

But both stressed that China held the greatest leverage over North Korea.

“We will both continue to encourage China to bring more economic pressure to bear on North Korea to bring this regime to its senses,” Mr Turnbull said.
However, Mr Turnbull could not go into what potential steps the US could take against the regime.

“A lot of our conversation I can't go into,” the Prime Minister said.

“Everybody wants to get this dangerous situation resolved, bring this reckless, dangerous, provocative regime to its senses without conflict. A conflict would be catastrophic - everyone understands that.”

Meanwhile, Labor leader Bill Shorten will head to South Korea and Japan with his foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong in September.

The pair will meet political leaders and government officials to express support for allies amid threats from North Korea.

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Published 6 September 2017 11:45am
Updated 6 September 2017 12:05pm
By Rashida Yosufzai


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