Australia to discuss N. Korea tension, terror threat in Manila talks

SYDNEY — Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday said he would discuss North Korea and Islamist terrorism as threats to regional stability, ahead of his arrival at an East Asia leaders’ summit in the Philippines.

North Korea was a criminal regime and the single largest threat to the region, Mr. Turnbull told a televised news conference in Hong Kong.

“They are very cunning operators,” he said, urging a tightening of economic sanctions.

THREAT NEXT DOOR

Islamist terrorism in the southern Philippines is the other key security issue that Mr. Turnbull aims to discuss with Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte in Manila this week.

Australia said in September that it would send troops to train the Philippines armed forces engaged in a 154-day battle with Islamic State fighters in the southern city of Marawi, in the country’s biggest security crisis in decades.

Mr. Turnbull stressed the importance of help by Indonesian President Joko Widodo in defusing Islamist extremism as the leader of the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, which is also a democracy.

“He speaks with great authority when he says Islam is compatible with democracy and moderation,” Mr. Turnbull added.

“He’s a powerful voice for moderation in the region.”

EMBATTLED AT HOME

Australia’s embattled prime minister will attend the highpowered regional summit at the same time as a citizenship crisis at home has destroyed the parliamentary majority of his ruling center-right coalition.

The constitution bars dual nationals from parliament, and Mr. Turnbull’s government was thrown into disarray last month by a High Court ruling that five parliamentarians — including his deputy, Barnaby Joyce — were ineligible to be lawmakers.

The resignation of another MP on Saturday has left Mr. Turnbull as the head of a minority government, with his position guaranteed only by the votes of two independents.

Mr. Turnbull said that he expects Mr. Joyce to be returned to Parliament following a Dec. 2 by-election. —