We lived in the shadow of North Korean NUKE tests – poisoned locals die of radiation thinking they have ‘ghost disease’

FOUR North Korean defectors who lived in the shadow of Kim Jong-un's nuclear test site claim their community has been destroyed by the radioactive fallout.

Locals in Kilju County have told of the catastrophic health consequences they have suffered due to their dangerous neighbour.

The mountainous region is the home of North Korea's notorious Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where at least six blasts have occurred.

Four defectors who lived unenviably close to the partially demolished base allege that Kim's self-serving nuke experiments have decimated the rural village of Gilju-gun.

During an event as part of the 20th annual North Korea Freedom Week in Seoul, South Korea, the former residents testified about the horror repercussions locals have faced from persistent nuclear testing.

The nation has continued to taunt the West by flexing its nuclear capabilities, blasting hydrogen bombs, fearsome warheads and ballistic missiles over the years.

The defectors claim their key water supply was contaminated with radiation as a result, essentially poisoning the community.

Kim Sun-bok and three others using the pseudonyms Lee Young-ran, Nam Gyeong-hoon and Kim Jeong-geum told the press conference multiple generations have been plagued by deadly illnesses.

They alleged that many victims believed they were suffering from "ghost disease" after experiencing a number of bizarre symptoms.

Kim Sun-bok explained they had relied on the Namdaecheon Stream, which flows down from Punggye-ri, for drinking water, reports.

He said: "Until the nuclear test site was built and soldiers installed barriers and controlled movement, Punggye-ri was a rural village with good water and scenery, but now there is no way to find it anymore.

"Since when did the number of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis increase, and patients with tuberculosis and dermatitis?"

As well as infectious diseases and agonising skin conditions, Sun-bok claimed people were also ridden with anxiety and mental defects.

"Without a clear diagnosis, they had ghost disease, and there were rumours that they should visit a shaman and use a talisman."

Lee Young-ran lived in Punggye-ri in 2013 when North Korea conducted its third underground nuclear weapons test.

He said despite fellow villagers dying from mysterious illnesses, he only learned of the effects of nuclear testing when he fled the totalitarian regime for South Korea.

Young-ran told the conference: " It is no exaggeration to say that most of the residents of Gilju-gun were exposed to radiation because they used the water coming down from Punggye-ri for drinking.

"[After the nuclear test], one by one, they were diagnosed with tuberculosis at the hospital, and they could not survive more than four years of illness."

He said his own son was tragically diagnosed with tuberculosis and died, as residents in Giju-gun are reportedly forbidden from entering Pyongyang in case they are radioactively contaminated.

The dad claimed he sent money to his child so he could head to a hospital in the capital, but the barbaric rules stopped him.

The landmark conference marked the first time a North Korean defector has publicly testified about the human cost of the country's nuclear tests.

Experts have already warned of the environmental effects that have ravaged Punggye-ri since the first nuke experiment in 2006.

Human rights group Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) released a report in February claiming that radioactive materials leaked from the nuclear test site were transmitted through groundwater.

It claimed that this could be transmitted to hundreds of thousands of people living in close proximity.

Defectors previously claimed around 80 per cent of the trees in the region died following the sixth and biggest nuclear test in 2017, while all of the underground wells dried up.

It triggered the equivalent of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake - ten times more powerful than any previous test.

It was the same year a tunnel at the underground nuclear site reportedly collapsed, killing up to 200 people.

The director of South Korea's Meteorological Administration warned in 2017 that further tests at Punggye-ri "could cause the mountain to collapse and release radioactivity into the environment."

Chinese scientists claimed that if the mountain did collapse, nuclear fallout could spread across "an entire hemisphere".

An investigation into radiation exposure from North Korea's nuclear test sites was launched this year by the Ministry of Unification.

Human rights groups have criticised the lack of media coverage of the issue, which they described as a "deplorable human rights situation."

Lee Shin-hwa, Ambassador for International Cooperation for North Korean Human Rights, said: "In particular, the leak of radioactive materials from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and the health risks to residents in the Gilju-gun area are representative examples."

The Punggye-ri nuclear test site was shut down in April 2018, seeing Kim invite a number of foreign journalists to watch its demolition.

They watched a network of tunnels explode in what was designed to demonstrate Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearisation.

But satellite images last year appeared to show construction work ongoing at the site, suggesting Kim was prepping for another test.