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FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3363
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C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000798 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016 
TAGS: KNNP PREL PARM NZ KN
SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR TEST ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 169418 
 
¶1. (C) In response to reftel, CDA Keegan delivered talking 
points this afternoon to David Taylor, Director North Asia 
Division at New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade (MFAT) accompanied by Carolyn Schwalger, Senior Policy 
Officer in the North Asia Division at MFAT. 
 
¶2. (C)  Mr. Taylor responded that he saw his government and 
the U.S. heading in the same direction on this issue. He was 
grateful that Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peters had an 
opportunity to talk on the phone in depth with Secretary Rice 
regarding North Korea (DPNK). Taylor went on to say that New 
Zealand (NZ) is closely following the actions of the UN 
Security Council (UNSC) and emphasized that the challenge 
remains to find ways to impose sanctions in ways that move 
the issue in a constructive, or at least less dangerous, 
direction. In the short term, NZ will be guided by what comes 
out of the UNSC, but are looking beyond the Security Council 
action to what else they can do. Taylor admitted that in 
implementing the financial aspects of UNSC resolution 1695, 
the NZ Parliament would need to pass additional legislation. 
He went on to say that although it was too early to stop 
current humanitarian assistance to DPNK that there are no 
plans to provide additional assistance. Currently, NZ has 
very lttle contact with North Korea, very little assistance 
and essentially no commerce or financial flows. Nonetheless, 
they are looking at ways to ensure that they have all the 
necessary means to act. 
 
¶3. (C)  NZ is planning to discuss this topic at upcoming 
regional meetings, such as APEC, as well as its normal round 
of regional bilateral meetings and is reiterating its concern 
over DPNK actions at these events. Minister of Defense and 
Trade, Phil Geoff will be in Japan and South Korea in two 
weeks and will also deliver his government's concerns 
regarding the actions of DPNK. While in Korea he will meet 
with General Bell, Commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) in 
order to get a more in depth briefing. Taylor also shared 
that Minister Peters has been actively encouraging China to 
do more to bring the parties back to the negotiating table. 
 
 
¶4. (C) In the past few day, Taylor noted that Foreign 
Minister Peters has been saying that one should not 
necessarily conclude that DPNK is a nuclear state simply 
because of one test. Taylor added that NZ would appreciate 
being informed of any U.S. technical assesments as to whether 
this event was in fact nuclear and a successful test. 
 
¶5. (C) Taylor revealed that he had heard some talk among the 
diplomatic community, especially from the British that 
dispite DPNK's withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty 
(NPT), a legal argument may be made to help bolster a case 
with the Chinese (PRC) that they need to take stronger action 
against DPNK. 
Keegan