Prime Minister tells China "We won't help you" in NKorea war

DEVELOPING NEWS: Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key has told China "New Zealand would likely join the United States and Australia in defending South Korea if war breaks out."

"The actions of North Korea are not helpful," says Mr Key. "They are overly provocative. They are destabilising the region and if something went wrong that could be disastrous for all us. So we all have skin in the game here."

Mr Key says North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un, has changed the game and the threats from North to South Korea are at an all new level.

"We don't know how he might react under pressure. And sometimes these things can get out of hand quite rapidly."

If war breaks out, the United States and Australia would likely join to defend the South. Mr Key implied we would side with our old allies and New Zealand would be at war with North Korea.

"I wouldn't want to speculate, but obviously we have got a long and proud history of coming to the support of South Korea. Taken to the extreme, and without interventions and resolutions to the issues, that is of course possible."