CRI听力:Japan Whaling Ban Welcomed in Aus, New Zealand

Both Australian and New Zealand officials are applauding a new UN court ruling which bans the Japanese government from whaling in the Antarctic.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Japan's annual hunt is not really for scientific purposes, as Tokyo has claimed.

The Japanese side has since said it will abide by the new ruling.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

"The very optimistic feature here is that they've (Japan) made it very clear that they're going to abide by the decision and it appears that they're going to remain committed to the IWC membership as well."

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also says he's "delighted by the result."

In announcing it will abide by the ruling, the Japanese government also says it's "deeply disappointed" with the outcome of the case, but says it will remain a member of the International Whaling Commission.

This is a voluntary organization which has set quotas on so-called scientific whaling, which has allowed Japanese whaling ships to hunt down over 36-hundred Minke Whales since 2005.

While some scientific research is done on the whales, the vast majority of the meat is put to market in Japan.

Iceland and Norway, also members of the IWC, have simply chosen to ignore the Commission's quotas.

Australia launched the international court action against Japanese whaling in 2010 amid a growing number of conflicts among environmental activists and Japanese whaling ships in the waters south of Australia and New Zealand.