Radioactive groundwater could affect thousands near North Korea nuke sites: Report
Misty Severi
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Tens of thousands of people in North Korea and neighboring countries could be exposed to radioactive water from an underground nuclear test site, a South Korean human rights group warned Tuesday.
A study by the Transitional Justice Working Group revealed that North Korea secretly conducted six nuclear weapons tests from 2006 to 2017 at the Punggye-ri site in North Hamgyong Province. The groundwater from that site could be contaminated with radioactive materials that spread across eight cities.
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“This report is significant in showing that North Korea’s nuclear tests could threaten the right to life and health of not only the North Korean people, but also of those in South Korea and other neighboring countries,” Hubert Younghwan Lee, the group’s chief and a co-author of the study, told Reuters.
Groundwater from the site is used daily by more than 1 million North Koreans — including for drinking. People in China, Japan, and South Korea could also be affected because of smuggling operations between the countries and North Korea.
South Korea’s food safety agency said it detected nine times the standard level of radioactive caesium isotopes in imported mushrooms in 2015. The mushrooms had been sold as Chinese produce but originated in North Korea. The country has since ended its radiation monitoring, including on defectors from North Korea.
But more than 40 defectors were monitored for radiation before the country stopped, and nine showed abnormalities. However, they could not be tied directly to the nuclear site.
China and Japan have increased their monitoring for radiation but did not provide information on any contaminated food, according to Reuters.
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The human rights group urged South Korea to restart its radiation monitoring after the report and to conduct an inquiry into the risks for the communities surrounding the site. However, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it would only resume testing if defectors report health problems.
The group was founded in 2014 and cited interviews with nuclear and government officials and open intelligence reports for its study. The study is backed by the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit organization funded by U.S. Congress.