美国表示朝鲜有能力自产弹道导弹发动机

North Korea has the ability domestically to produce the engines that power its ballistic missiles, US intelligence officials have said, raising new concerns about the technological sophistication of the reclusive Asian nation’s weapons programmes.

美国情报官员表示朝鲜有能力在国内制造弹道导弹发动机，这一评估引发了对朝鲜武器计划技术先进程度的新担忧。

The assessment also contradicts an independent study released this week that suggested the engines for North Korea’s newly-tested intercontinental ballistic missiles were probably built in either Ukrainian or Russian factories and obtained illicitly.

该评估也与本周发布的一项独立调查相抵触，那项调查认为朝鲜新近试射的洲际弹道导弹的发动机很可能是乌克兰或俄罗斯的工厂制造的，并被朝鲜通过非法渠道获取。

“We have intelligence to suggest that North Korea is not reliant on imports of engines. Instead, we judge they have the ability to produce the engines themselves,” a senior US intelligence official told the Financial Times.

一名美国高级情报官员告诉英国《金融时报》：“我们得到的情报显示，朝鲜并不依靠进口发动机。相反，我们判断他们有能力自己生产发动机。”

North Korea has emerged as a top foreign policy priority for the US after testing an increasingly sophisticated array of short, medium and long-range missiles this year. In July, Pyongyang demonstrated its advancing technological prowess by testing two intercontinental ballistic missiles theoretically capable of reaching the US mainland.

朝鲜今年试射了一连串越来越先进的短、中、远程导弹后，已成为美国外交政策的首要任务之一。7月份，朝鲜通过试射两枚理论上能打到美国本土的洲际弹道导弹，展示了其先进的技术实力。

The US intelligence assessment contradicts the estimation of several rocket scientists who study North Korea and who have said the country would require imports for the sophisticated technology involved in producing engines capable of launching a nuclear warhead across continents.

美国的这一情报评估与几名研究朝鲜的火箭科学家的判断相矛盾，这几名科学家表示，朝鲜需要进口才能得到生产洲际核导弹发动机所需的先进技术。

North Korea is thought to have built up its arsenal in the late 1980s and 1990s although it registered a series of launch failures in tests with the longer-range Musudan missile until a new approach under leader Kim Jong Un began to bear fruit two years ago.

外界认为朝鲜在20世纪80年代末至90年代就已经建立起了自己的武库，但较远程的舞水端(Musudan)导弹的试射遭遇了一连串发射失败，直到金正恩(Kim Jong Un)上台后，一种新方法才在两年前开始取得成果。

Since then, his regime has launched longer range missiles and increased the pace of nuclear testing. In September 2016, Mr Kim revealed a new engine that some experts believe was based on old Soviet models — variants of the RD-250 — but which US intelligence now appears to believe it can build at home.

此后，金正恩政权发射了更远程的导弹并加快了核试验步伐。2016年9月，金正恩披露了一款新发动机，一些专家认为这款发动机建立在老式苏联发动机的基础上，是RD-250发动机的变体，但美国情报部门现在似乎相信朝鲜能在国内制造发动机。