North Korean Defectors Show Signs Of Radiation Exposure

South Korean scientists and doctors who have been examining North Korean defectors have stumbled upon yet another horrifying discovery: At least four of the defectors have shown signs of radiation exposure, the South Korean government said on Wednesday - although researchers could not confirm if the radiation was related to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.

Earlier today, we noted that one of the defectors had also tested positive for Anthrax antibodies, suggesting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has continued his chemical weapons program despite signing an international chemical weapons treaty. Of course, the North Korean government has denied that chemical weapons are being used.

All four men are former residents of Kilju county, an area in North Korea that includes the nuclear test site Punggye-ri. According to Reuters, they were likely exposed to radiation between May 2009 and January 2013. All of the men defected to the South before the most recent test, according to a researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute.

The researcher cautioned that people can be exposed to radiation in many ways, and that none of the defectors who had lived in Punggye-ri itself showed specific symptoms.

Fears that North Korea could unintentionally trigger a nuclear disaster via its nuclear tests have escalated since the North’s Sept. 3 nuclear test, prompting China to increase monitoring of radioactive activity along its border with its restive neighbor. Seismic activity detected in the aftermath of the test suggests the test site is suffering from "Tired Mountain Syndrome" – a condition detected at former Soviet nuclear testing sites. The destabilizing impact of the tests was made evident when a tunnel at Punggye-ri collapsed, killing 200 North Korean workers.

Still, the North has pushed ahead with building new tunnels at the test site, suggesting that – instead of abandoning Punggye-ri altogether, as their Chinese peers have advised, they intend to move the tests to a different part of the mountain.

Ultimately, scientists worry that the mountain could implode, releasing a plume of toxic radioactive dust into the atmosphere that could wreak untold havoc on the health of people across the region.

Chinese Scientists Warn North Korea's Nuke Test Site At Risk Of Imploding, "Releasing Many Bad Things"

Earlier we showed the shocking satellite images showing numerous landslides aound the mountain that is North Korea"s nuclear test site, and it appears Chinese officials are also keeping a very close eye on the region, instigating "emergency monitoring" for radiation leaks as the former chairman of the China Nuclear Society warns of the potential for a massive environmental disaster.

As SHTFplan.com"s Mac Slavo notes, we already know that North Korea has the capability of not only firing Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles that could strike major U.S. cities, but that they have the nuclear technology to make any such attack absolutely devastating.

Weapons of Mass Destruction, electro-magnetic pulse weapons and World War III aside, however, the South China Morning Post reports that another danger lurks just below the mountain where North Korea has been testing their nuclear devices.

A total of at least six nuclear device tests have reportedly taken place in North Korea and Chinese seismologists have been able to pinpoint their locations to within 100 meters.

(January 2016 Blast Site – via The Daily Signal)

(The September 2017 blast took place in the same location – Via Norsar)

It turns out that all of the tests occurred under the same mountain and scientists are now warning that it could implode, leaving a massive hole that would leak deadly radiation across the entire region, including China:

Wang Naiyan, the former chairman of the China Nuclear Society and senior researcher on China’s nuclear weapons programme, said that if Wen’s findings were reliable, there was a risk of a major environmental disaster.

Another test might cause the whole mountain to cave in on itself, leaving only a hole from which radiation could escape and drift across the region, including China, he said.

 

“We call it ‘taking the roof off’. If the mountain collapses and the hole is exposed, it will let out many bad things.”

 

Sunday’s blast was followed by an earthquake eight minutes later, which China’s seismic authorities interpreted as a cave-in triggered by the explosion.

 

Source: South China Morning Post

If the results are accurate - which we now know they are judging by the satellite images - then there has already been a partial implosion of the mountain, though the radiation released during recent nuclear tests remains contained. At least we think it is still contained.

Close-up of slope between North Portal and mountain peak showing multiple landslides before:

And after:

With North Korea planning even more tests, China has reason to be worried.

"The increasing size of North Korea’s nuclear bombs was also making "topping" more likely," Wang said.

 

“A 100 kiloton bomb is a relatively large bomb. The North Korean government should stop the tests as they pose a huge threat not only to North Korea but to other countries, especially China,” he said.

As we’ve seen with Fukushima, radiation could force long-term evacuations of thousands of square miles and cause deadly consequences for people living downwind of any potential leak.

The theory sounds reasonable. And whether or not its true, it certainly gives China a solid position from which to negotiate North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.

If this report continues to gain traction - and the satellite images we showed earlier appear to confirm it -  then North Korea’s weapons testing is no longer just a geo-political military problem, but rather, has the potential for a massive humanitarian crisis, something that both East and West could use to further pressure the North’s leader Kim Jong Un in an effort to avoid widespread nuclear conflict.