What are the potential policy options for Australia in dealing with a nuclear-armed North Korea?

This paper examines the policy options for Australia in dealing with a nuclear-armed North Korea. It notes that over the past two decades, North Korea has become an ever-increasing threat to regional security, and that it continues to develop and test nuclear weapons and ballistic-missile systems. It assesses that North Korea's increasingly credible capability heightens the risk of miscalculation and conflict on the Korean Peninsula, which would have a significant impact on Australia's national interests.

The paper asserts that US policy has not managed to curb North Korea's belligerence. It proposes that Australia should attempt to influence the US to change its policy to an approach that aims to reduce tension by focusing on peace-building measures rather than denuclearisation, which would require the re-establishment of dialogue, as well as recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-weapons state. The paper also suggests several complementary military-related policy options that Australia could progress against the possibility that diplomatic options prove unsuccessful or that tensions continue to escalate regardless.

This paper was also published in the Indo-Pacific Strategic Digest series.

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