Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Friday said North Korea's letter to her government urging Australia to turn away from US President Donald Trump is a response to the collective pressure aimed at the rogue regime.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the letter was sent to "a lot of other countries" as well as Australia, which has vowed to help the United States, a defence treaty ally, in any conflict with Pyonyang.
The letter was sent from the North Korean Embassy in Jakarta to the Australian Embassy in Indonesia on September 28.
Bishop said it was the first letter to an Australian foreign minister sent by North Korea.
North Korea usually communicates through its news agency KCNA.
Bishop's office said the minister did not know what other countries received the open letter, which said the United States "cooked up the illegal 'sanctions resolution.'"
The latest sanctions ban North Korea from importing all natural gas liquids and condensates, and cap its crude oil imports.
They also prohibit all textile exports, ban all joint ventures and cooperative operations, and bars any country from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers, key sources of hard currency for the northeast Asian nation.
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