WELLINGTON/CANBERRA (AP) — New Zealand said it may join Australia in seeking international legal action against Japan over its annual whale hunt in the Antarctic if negotiations fail to produce a diplomatic solution.

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his government would take Japan to international court over its research whaling program that kills hundreds of whales a year if Tokyo does not agree to stop the hunt by November.

Australia, a staunch anti-whaling nation, has long threatened international legal action.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Monday a diplomatic solution would be quicker — and therefore save more whales — than pursuing a case in the International Court of Justice at The Hague, which could take years to resolve.

Diplomatic negotiations likely will be complete within weeks, McCully said. "We'll know soon whether we are going to achieve success that way or not," he said. "If not, the court process is obviously a serious option."

He gave no details of the negotiations, believed to revolve around having Japan end its Antarctic whale hunt while still being allowed to kill minke whales in the north Pacific Ocean.

Prime Minister John Key also backed a diplomatic resolution to Japan's whaling in the waters off Antarctica, saying New Zealand may only resort to court action if it fails.

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Sunday that Tokyo will defend its hunt in any legal forum, saying it is an allowed exception to the International Whaling Commission's 1986 ban on commercial whaling. Speaking after meeting with his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith, he said it was unfortunate Australia had indicated it would take international court action.

Whaling nations including Japan could be allowed to resume limited commercial hunting for the first time in 24 years under a draft plan drawn up by a working group of the International Whaling Commission.

The draft aims to sharply reduce the number of whales culled under a loophole in the international ban which allows hunting for scientific purposes, in return for strict limits on the number of mammals killed. It did not suggest a quota limit.

Scientific whaling would also be brought under the control of the 88-member IWC in a compromise aimed at ending a split in the IWC between anti-whaling nations and pro-whaling countries Japan, Norway and Iceland.

"The commission will establish caps of takes that are within sustainable levels for a ten-year period," the draft said.

The proposal, released by International Whaling Commission support group chairman Cristian Maquieira, of Chile, hopes to prevent the collapse of the IWC over long-running differences between countries.

Other proposals drawn up over more than a year of closed-door talks include a reduction in scientific catches from current levels of around 1,000 whales each year, and limiting commercial whaling to the three nations that currently hunt them.

The draft called for improving the animal welfare aspects of whaling and close monitoring of the impact on whale populations of climate change and other environmental threats.

The draft, to be debated by a small group of countries in Florida from March 2 to 4, could overcome deep divisions over whaling because it would give anti-whaling countries some control over self-imposed quotas set by the whalers.

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan aims to harpoon up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales, classified as endangered, in the Southern Ocean during the current Southern Hemisphere summer for research purposes.

Tokyo is also considering a deal which would allow it to drastically scale back its yearly Antarctic hunt provided it is allowed to whale commercially in Japanese coastal waters.

The IWC ad hoc working group plan was drawn up by a small group of nations including Japan and Iceland, as well as anti-whaling countries like Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

They were drawn together with other countries including Sweden, Brazil, Cameroon and Mexico.