British Publication Warns of North Korean Missiles

 

By Michael Drudge¹

A leading British defense² publication says North Korea is developing new ballistic missile systems that could threaten the continental³ United States.

The findings are published in the latest edition of Jane's Defense Weekly.

The magazine's editor, Ian Kemp, says Russian experts have played a key role in helping⁴ North Korea develop new missiles.

"Our research reveals that the North Koreans are working on two new ballistic missile systems, both of which appear to be derived⁵ from the Soviet⁶ R-27 submarine-launched ballistic missile," he said. "Now this was developed by the Soviets⁷ in the 1960s and was carried by Russian nuclear submarines for the later half of the Cold War. And it would appear that former Soviet, and now Russian technicians, over a period of time have helped the North Koreans develop this technology."

The magazine says a land-based version of the missile would have a range of up to 4,000 kilometers, while the submarine-launched or ship-mounted version could travel 2,500 kilometers.

Mr. Kemp says the sea-launched missile would be the most threatening.

"This would be the first time the North Koreans have had a submarine-launched ballistic missile. And of course the great advantage of a submarine-launched weapon is that you are not dependent upon the range of the weapon," he said. "The submarine itself can deploy⁸ a considerable distance and could thus threaten a large area of the continental United States, for instance."

Mr. Kemp says North Korea's efforts to build nuclear weapons and missiles are a troubling development.

"Certainly the U.S. intelligence community, the South Korean intelligence community, the Japanese, will be very concerned indeed by these developments," he said. "And certainly all three countries have warned in recent months about North Korea's nuclear aspirations⁹."

Jane's says the next step for North Korea will be to build submarines capable of launching the new missiles. It is not clear how long that would take. But the magazine says North Korea did gain technological¹⁰ insight from some decommissioned Soviet submarines it bought from Japanese scrap¹¹ metal dealers¹² 12 years ago.

Michael Drudge, VOA News, London.

注释：
ballistic missile 弹道导弹
Jane's Defense Weekly 英国军事信息权威杂志《简氏防务周刊》
submarine-launched ballistic missile 潜艇发射的弹道导弹
intelligence community 情报委员会
aspiration 渴望
decommission 使退役

 

1 drudge   

n.劳碌的人；v.做苦工，操劳

参考例句：

• I feel like a real drudge--I've done nothing but clean all day!我觉得自己像个做苦工的--整天都在做清洁工作！
• I'm a poor,miserable,forlorn drudge;I shall only drag you down with me.我是一个贫穷，倒运，走投无路的苦力，只会拖累你。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

7 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

8 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

9 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

10 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

11 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

12 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。