Chris Carter

The Labour Party condemns North Korea's latest sabre-rattling missile launch, and the New Zealand Government's lacklustre response to it, says Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Chris Carter.

"During the past 48 hours North Korea has outraged world opinion, and drawn strong condemnation from the United Nations Security Council, for exploding a nuclear weapon and continuing to test fire strategic missiles towards its neighbours," said Mr Carter.

"Today's report that North Korea has launched an ICBM towards Japan is very alarming."

Chris Carter says he's astonished that the New Zealand government continues to remain virtually silent in the face of North Korea's aggression, while world powers, friends and allies place top priority on trying to calm tensions.

"The vast majority of New Zealanders stand against nuclear weapons and military threats, and they expect the National-Act Government to state their views firmly in the international arena.

"As a responsible opposition Labour yesterday promised to work constructively with any actions the New Zealand Government might take in support of the UN security mechanisms and the Six-Party Talks. Not only has Foreign Minister Murray MuCully not responded to us, but he has failed to even put out a statement on the latest missile test. This is despite widely publicised promises from the clearly-uninformed John Key that Mr McCully would be at the forefront on this issue.

"New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region are in the middle of a very serious security and diplomatic crisis, which appears to be worsening," Mr Carter maintained. "Our Government is missing in action while North Korea plays roulette with the global security order. Wake up Mr Key. Wake up Mr McCully. Nuclear free and peace-loving New Zealand expects a lot more from you today."