韩国的军事官员表示，他们相信北韩希望发展能够用导弹携带的核武器。就在韩国官员做出这项不寻常公开声明的同时，有报导说，北韩在其西部海岸试射短程导弹。

　　South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Kim Tae-young, says he believes North Korea is trying to produce a nuclear warhead small enough to be carried on a missile.

　　韩国参谋长联席会议主席金泰荣表示，他相信北韩正试图发展体积小到能够用导弹携带的核弹头。

　　Kim made the comment Wednesday in a parliamentary hearing. Such a direct statement is rare, because senior South Korean officials usually keep quiet about North Korean security matters in public. Kim added, he believes North Korea has enough plutonium to produce as many as seven nuclear weapons.

　　金泰荣是星期三在国会作证时发表这项评论的。这样率直的说法十分罕见，因为韩国官员通常在公开场合对北韩的安全事务保持缄默。金泰荣还补充说，他相信北韩已经有足够的金属钸能够生产多达7枚的核武器。

　　Despite being impoverished, North Korea has invested heavily for decades in ballistic missile technology. It has hundreds of short and medium range missiles capable of reaching all of South Korea and most of Japan. North Korea test-fired a medium range missile directly over Japanese territory in 1998. In 2006 - just months before it tested a nuclear explosive underground - the North conducted a failed test of a long range missile hypothetically capable of reaching the United States.

　　北韩现在拥有几百枚能够打到整个韩国和大部分日本的短程和中程导弹。1998年，北韩试射了一枚中程导弹直接飞越日本领土。2006年，就在北韩试爆地下核装置前几个月，北韩还进行了一次失败的远程导弹试射。那枚远程导弹的假设目标是美国本土。

　　South Korean media quoted Seoul defense officials Wednesday as saying the North has conducted a test firing of at least two short range missiles. The missiles were apparently fired Tuesday afternoon off North Korea's western coast.

　　韩国媒体星期三引述首尔国防官员的话说，北韩已经进行了至少两次短程导弹试射。这些导弹显然是星期二下午的时候在北韩西海岸以外发射的。

　　South Korean Unification Ministry Spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun did not confirm the launch Wednesday, but said the test was probably not cause for alarm.

　　韩国统一部发言人金浩庸星期三没有对导弹发射作出证实，但是表示，没有必要对这样的试射赶到惊慌。

　　He says if it was in fact short range missiles North Korea launched, it is probably part of a routine drill. He says North Korea is known to conduct two sets of routine missile tests each year.

　　他说，如果北韩真的发射了短程导弹，那可能只是常规演习的一部分。他说，北韩据悉每年进行两次常规性的导弹试射。

　　Even small military movements by North Korea attract attention here in the South - perhaps especially at this point in time. It remains unconfirmed whether leader Kim Jong Il, believed to be recovering from a stroke, is actually in control of the country. Pyongyang threatened earlier this month to resume reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel into material useable in weapons. And, this week marks several key anniversaries in the North - including that of the country's communist-party founding, and of its nuclear test two years ago.

　　即便是小规模的北韩军事动作，尤其在这个时间，都会在韩国引发关注。目前还无法证实据信在中风后恢复阶段的北韩领导人金正日是否在亲自掌权。平壤本月早些时候威胁说，要恢复将核废料处理成可用于武器的材料。此外，这个星期在北韩有几个重要的纪念日，其中包括北韩共产党成立纪念日和北韩进行核试验两周年等。