Defectors from North Korea say that due to the nuclear tests performed; most of the country’s population is suffering due to the exposure to radiation. The lucky enough defectors to reach South Korea share details of how life is in the most remote and inaccessible country on earth.
Lee Jeong Hwa shares her story
A middle-aged woman of about 5 feet tall says that she is always in pain. She tells stories of life in North Korea were most people are affected by radiation and many die.
The woman tells her story of when she tried to flee back in 2003. In 2010 she managed to escape from Kilju County, the place where nuclear tests are made.
Radiations are a life-treating problem
The World Health Organization has explained that radiations can impair tissue functioning and damage organs. It depends on the radiation, but cancer risk is always present.
The South Korean government decided to test Lee and defectors and decide their level or radiation contamination.
The results of the 30 examinations have come back as clean. However, Suh Kune-yull, a professor of nuclear engineering from Seul Univesity believes Lee is telling the truth.
Both Lee and another defector Rhee Yeong Sil, many citizens of North Korea were not aware their government was performing nuclear tests. They have told the SAND their stories. SAND is a governmental organization from South Korea’s capital, Seoul, which defends the human rights of North Korean citizens.
Rhee said that in her village a woman gave birth to a deformed baby which did not have genitalia. They are adamant that radiation exposure is to blame.
North Korean defectors try to keep in touch with their families by using cellphones which were smuggled into the communist country through China.
