SEOUL, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of North Koreans and people in South Korea, Japan and China could be exposed to radioactive materials that have spread into groundwater from an underground nuclear test site, a group of Seoul-based human rights said in a report. on Tuesday.
North Korea secretly conducted six nuclear weapons tests at the Punggye-ri site in mountainous North Hamgyong Province between 2006 and 2017, according to the US and South Korean governments.
A study by the Transitional Justice Working Group said radioactive materials may have spread to eight cities and counties near the site, where more than 1 million North Koreans live, and where groundwater is used during the day. -day life including drinking.
It also said that neighboring South Korea, China and Japan could be at risk due to the share of agricultural and fishery products smuggled from the North.
Latest Updates
See 2 more stories
The group, formed in 2014, works with nuclear and medical experts and defectors and uses open source intelligence and publicly available government and UN reports for the study, which is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy. , a US-funded non-profit corporation. Congress.
“This report is important in showing that North Korea’s nuclear tests may threaten the right to life and health not only of North Koreans, but also of those in South Korea and other neighboring countries,” said Hubert Young-hwan Lee, the group chief and a co-author.
Reuters phone calls to North Korea’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations in New York went unanswered.
In 2015, South Korea’s food safety agency detected nine times the standard level of radioactive cesium isotopes in imported hedgehog mushrooms sold as a product in China despite their true origin being North Korea.
China and Japan have stepped up radiation monitoring and expressed concerns about potential exposure after the North’s previous nuclear test but have not publicly provided information on contaminated food.
Many outside experts have raised concerns about potential health risks from contaminated water, but North Korea has dismissed such concerns, saying there has been no leakage of harmful materials after previous tests. of nuclear, without providing evidence.
When North Korea invited foreign journalists to witness the destruction of some tunnels at a nuclear test site in 2018, it confiscated their radiation detectors.
Seoul’s Unification Ministry, which oversees inter-Korean affairs, has stopped testing defectors for radiation exposure since 2018 amid a thaw in cross-border relations.
However, of the 40 defectors from regions near Punggye-ri who were tested for radiation in 2017 and 2018, at least nine showed abnormalities. The ministry said, however, that it could not establish a direct link to the nuclear site.
More than 880 North Koreans have escaped from the regions since 2006, the report said.
The rights group is urging the continuation of the trial and an international inquiry into the dangers of radiation for communities around Punggye-ri.
The Unification Ministry said it would consider restarting testing if defectors reported health problems and sought support regarding radiation exposure.
Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang may be preparing for a seventh nuclear test.
Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
