VOA慢速英語(yǔ): 對(duì)朝鮮的核武器報(bào)道專家提出質(zhì)疑

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A former International Atomic Energy official has raisedquestions about claims made in a new report on NorthKorea. The report warns that North Korea could manufacture 100 nuclear weapons by 2020.

The warning came from the US-Korea Institute at John Hopkins University in the United States. The institutereleased the report last month. It said the North Korean government could greatly expand its nuclear and missile programs over the next five years. The reportsaid that such an expansion could present “a seriouschallenge to the United States, Northeast Asia and theinternational community.”

Ollie Heinonen formerly served as deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Hespoke with VOA’s Korean Service. Mr. Heinonen saidhe would be surprised if North Korea can make asmany nuclear weapons in the next few years as thereport predicted. He said he does not think any country has ever made 100 nuclear weapons in six years -- not even the United States.

A man watches a TV news program showing the file footage of the missile launch conducted by North Korea, at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, March 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Mr. Heinonen said the report examined the amount of nuclear material theNorth Korean government has -- not nuclear weapons. In his words, “there is a difference between having nuclear material for a weapon and having anuclear weapon.” He added that a nuclear weapon is difficult to make andtakes a lot of time to manufacture.

I’m Jim Tedder.

Baik Sungwon and Jee Abbey Lee reported this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise wrote it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.