Half of Australians think North Korea likely to use a nuke

Half of Australians believe North Korea is likely to use a nuclear weapon on its enemies, which could include their own country.

Sixteen per cent thought the doomsday scenario was very likely an another 33 per cent said it was fairly likely, according to a Roy Morgan poll of 1,797 people.

The terrifying survey was taken the night before the rogue state launched a missile 3,700km over Japan on Friday – far enough to hit the U.S. Pacific island of Guam.

 

Kim celebrated his country’s latest missile launch(pictured) and said he aims to reach an ‘equilibrium’ of military force with the United States

Kim was seen laughing as he watched the missile fly from a moving launcher in photos released by official agency KCNA, surrounded by several officials

Tasmanians, farthermost from North Korea, were the least worried with only 36 per cent thinking it likely, along with Greens voters on 34 per cent.

Australians seemed keen to avoid a mushroom cloud with 81 per cent favouring a diplomatic solution to the worsening crisis than a military one.

One Nation voters were the most hawkish with 36 per cent saying diplomacy was not working and we should go to war, and 26 per cent of Queenslanders felt the same.

‘The consensus on these questions across political lines also extends across both genders and all age groups,’ Roy Morgan executive chairman Gary Morgan said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (right) has again condemned North Korea’s actions after it launched another missile over Japan. Pictured left, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under Kim’s leadership as it pursues a program designed to give it the ability to target the US with a nuclear-tipped missile

North Korea’s test was the second time it had fired a missile over its neighbour Japan and came after it claimed to have a working hydrogen bomb.

The launch came after the country’s dictator Kim Jong-Un threatened to nuke Japan and reduce the U.S. ‘to ashes and darkness’.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull issued a stern warning, declaring thousands of North Koreans would be killed if a war began. 

‘If Kim Jong-Un were to start a war, to attack the United States or one of its allies, he would be signing a suicide note,’ he said.

‘That would be the end for his government and thousands and thousands of people would die.’ 

Pyongyang fired an unidentified missile on Friday, just hours after the Kim Jong-un regime threatened to nuke Japan and reduce the US ‘to ashes and darkness’ 

‘If Kim Jong-Un were to start a war… he would be signing a suicide note,’ Mr Turnbull said on Friday. Above, a photo released by the North Korean Central News Agency earlier this year

Mr Turnbull emphasised Australia’s alliance with the US and how both nations would come to the other’s aid in the result of an attack. 

‘This is another dangerous, reckless, criminal act by the North Korean regime, threatening the stability of the region and the world,’ he said earlier on Sky News.

‘This is a sign, I believe, of their frustration at the increased sanctions on North Korea recently imposed by the Security Council. It is a sign that the sanctions are working.

‘What we need to do is maintain the united global pressure on this rogue regime to bring it to its senses. I’m pleased the UN Security Council voted for these additional sanctions.’ 

The North Korean leader is pictured at the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army

Friday’s missile flew over Japan and the government warned citizens to avoid touching anything that looks like debris

North Korea is already under multiple UN sanctions but has still made rapid progress in its nuclear and missile programmes

The Security Council unanimously imposed an eighth set of sanctions on the rouge state on Monday, banning it from trading in textiles and restricting its oil imports. 

It came just one month after the council banned exports of coal, lead and seafood in response to the launch of a previous missile. 

‘It is tightening the sanctions on North Korea is the best prospect to bring the regime to its senses,’ Mr Turnbull added. 

Last week, the Turnbull government was considering how to evacuate the 200,000 Australians in north Asia should tensions with North Korea escalate into war.

Mr Turnbull said the risk of war was the greatest since the end of the Korean War and the government was developing emergency plans for Australians in the area.

North Korea has shrugged off numerous sets of sanctions aimed at crimping its nuclear and missile programmes, and this month unveiled what it said was a working hydrogen bomb

South Korean warplanes recently conducted live-fire exercises in response to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test

The Security Council unanimously imposed an eighth set of sanctions on the rouge state on Monday. Pictured, South Korea’s Hyunmoo II ballistic missile is fired during an exercise earlier this month

Experts predict hundreds of thousands of people would be instantly killed if North Korea targeted one of Australia’s capital cities with a nuclear missile. 

Kim was seen laughing as he watched the missile fly from a moving launcher in photos released by official agency KCNA, surrounded by several officials.

‘Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option,’ he said in an official news release. 

‘The combat efficiency and reliability of Hwasong-12 were thoroughly verified.’

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles under Kim’s leadership as it pursues a program designed to give it the ability to target the US with a nuclear-tipped missile.

North Korea recently tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that appear to bring much of the US within their maximum 10,000 kilometre range

Last week, the Turnbull government was considering how to evacuate the 200,000 Australians in north Asia should tensions with North Korea escalate into war

Experts predict hundreds of thousands of people would be instantly killed if North Korea targeted one of Australia’s capital cities with a nuclear missile

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