[ti:North Korea Missile Program Progressing Faster Than Thought] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.44]North Korea may have a working intercontinental ballistic missile, [00:05.80]or ICBM, able to carry a nuclear weapon by next year. [00:12.80]Intelligence officials for the U.S. Defense Department [00:17.24]made the estimate in a report published Tuesday. [00:22.68]Some Republican lawmakers have voiced concerns [00:26.76]about North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. [00:31.76]The Washington Post reported that the estimate [00:35.38]decreases the expected time in which North Korea would be able [00:41.27]to produce a "reliable, nuclear-capable ICBM" program. [00:49.00]Earlier estimates had stated that North Korea [00:53.48]would need three years to build a working ICBM. [01:00.00]Mac Thornberry is the Republican committee chairman [01:04.56]of the House Armed services committee. [01:08.40]He said he was concerned about the apparent success [01:13.32]of North Korea's launch of a long-range missile on July 4. [01:20.84]Thornberry wants to increase U.S. defense spending [01:25.18]on missile defense by $2.5 billion. [01:31.08]Analysts said that the missile launched on July 4 [01:35.72]was capable of reaching the state of Alaska. [01:40.40]Thornberry said Congress and President Donald Trump [01:44.76]need to take action to ensure that the U.S. and its allies are protected. [01:53.56]The U.S. Defense Department has already increased the number of [01:58.10]ground based anti-missile weapons based in Alaska. [02:04.12]Missile defense systems are also based in the state of California. [02:11.00]VOA spoke to Ken Gause, the director of the International Affairs Group [02:17.92]of the Center for Naval Analyses in Virginia. [02:22.73]He said North Korea's increased efforts to develop long distance missiles [02:29.72]are aimed at bringing about talks with the United States. [02:35.28]He said North Korea considers its weapons programs [02:40.12]as the only way to ensure its security. [02:45.20]Gause says the North Korean government wants to develop its economy, [02:51.64]but is unwilling to limit its weapons programs. [02:55.92]"They have moved away, over the last few years, [02:58.92]away from a military first policy to a party/people first policy [03:04.46]which the driving factor behind that is economic progress, [03:08.20]but they cannot focus on that part of their agenda [03:12.74]until they have security locked down." [03:15.84]Observers say the July 4 launch showed progress. [03:21.64]Scott Bray, an East Asia expert with the Office [03:26.05]of the Director of National Intelligence, said [03:29.44]the recent test was not a surprise. [03:33.16]However, he added that it presented a threat to the U.S. [03:38.16]and "to our allies in the region and to the whole world." [03:45.12]I'm Mario Ritter. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM