Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop is upping her condemnation of North Korea, saying it is "provocative and belligerent".
Speaking on Wednesday in Tallinn, Estonia, Bishop said North Korea has disregarded international law, violated UN Security Council resolutions on numerous occasions, and is "causing great tension in our region, that's why Australia and others have called North Korea to change its behaviour".
Amid rising tensions between North Korea and South Korea and the United States, Australia wants "to see a denuclearised Korean Peninsula", she added.
The Turnbull government has said North Korea does not currently have nuclear weapons capable of reaching Australia.
However, some news reports say North Korea has identified the Australian city of Darwin as a target because US Marines are using it as a training hub.
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The Australian government and Pyongyang have traded a series of insults over the past week.
On Saturday Pyongyang said Australia was "blindly and zealously toeing the US line" and accused Bishop of "spouting a string of rubbish against the DPRK over its entirely just steps for self-defence" .
It was in response to earlier comments made by Bishop which called for sanctions on the rogue state.
Bishop told AAP on Sunday that North Korea's threats of nuclear strikes against other nations further underlines the need for the regime to abandon its illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
