Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull dismisses North Korea letter as ‘rant against Trump’

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Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed a letter from North Korea as a rant against US President Donald Trump. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:23pm, 20 Oct 2017Updated: 8:24pm, 20 Oct 2017

Australia’s prime minister on Friday dismissed an extraordinary letter from North Korea to the country’s parliament and other nations as a “rant” against President Donald Trump and a sign that Pyongyang was “starting to feel the squeeze” of escalated sanctions.

The letter from the North Korean Foreign Affairs Committee, titled “Open Letter to Parliaments of Different Countries” attacked Trump over his speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month in which he threatened to “totally destroy North Korea” if provoked.

It is consistent with their ranting and complaining about Donald Trump

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the letter was sent to “a lot of other countries” as well as Australia, which has vowed to help the United States, a defence treaty ally, in any conflict with Pyongyang.

“It doesn’t actually say anything about Australia so much. It’s basically a rant about how bad Donald Trump is,” Turnbull told Melbourne radio 3AW.

“It is consistent with their ranting and complaining about Donald Trump,” he said, adding that it was North Korea that was in breach of UN Security Council resolutions by threatening to fire nuclear missiles at Japan, South Korea and the US.

Turnbull did not mention that North Korea had also previously threatened a missile strike against Australia, which has a US Marine Corps presence on its north coast.