| North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests at the Punggye-ri test site in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province. / Captured from the U.S. Geological Survey |
By Choi Ha-young
The government plans to conduct radiation checks on North Korean defectors who lived near a nuclear test site in Kilju County.
The Ministry of Unification said 30 defectors from the area will receive checks for radiation exposure this year, according to Rep. Park Byeong-seug of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, Wednesday.
They are among 114 defectors who left the North since its first nuclear test in 2006.
The 30 will undergo screening for cancer and thyroid function. The Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences will carry out the tests and the ministry will come up with follow-up measures according to the results.
The tests are to deal with growing rumors of radioactive contamination following consecutive nuclear tests.
So far, the North has conducted six nuclear tests at the Punggye-ri test site in Kilju, North Hamgyong Province. Citing a defectors' group, some media outlets have reported residents there suffer from headaches, weight loss and birth-defects in newborns, presumed to be caused by radioactive contamination.
"From 2013, patients with severe fatigue and weight loss sporadically started appearing. Since they could not afford to visit the doctor, those affected usually went to a shaman," a defector who left the county in July 2015 told the Chosun Ilbo, Aug. 1.
Another interviewee who left the North January last year complained of a degraded nervous system. "Around the third nuclear test in 2014, my sense of smell and taste were affected."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was absent from the nuclear tests. The young leader has observed missile and rocket engine tests multiple times but has never appeared at the nuclear test site.
"The unification ministry should have conducted medical tests earlier for those who used to live near the nuclear test site," Rep. Park said in a press release. "The ministry is obliged to take care of the health of North Korean defectors through such examinations."
Korean Language
통일부, 北핵실험장 지역 탈북민 대상 피폭검사"
박병석 '함북 길주군 출신 희망자 30명 대상으로 건강검진'
통일부가 북한 핵실험장이 위치한 함경북도 길주군 출신 탈북민들을 대상으로 피폭검사를 실시키로 했다고 국회 외교통일위 박병석(더불어민주당) 의원이 11일 밝혔다.
박 의원은 이날 보도자료를 통해 '국정감사 자료를 확인한 결과, 통일부는 길주군 출신 탈북민 114명 중 희망자 30명을 대상으로 연내(12월까지) 건강검진을 하면서 방사량 노출 여부를 함께 가리기로 했다'면서 이같이 말했다.
이번에 피폭검사를 받는 30명은 가장 최근에 우리나라에 들어온 순서대로 검진 희망 여부를 물은 후 선정됐으며 암 검진과 갑상선 기능검사도 함께 받는다고 박 의원은 설명했다.
박 의원은 '이번 검사로 그간 북한의 핵실험장이 있는 함경북도 길주군 주민 가운데 일부가 원인 모를 질병에 걸리는 등 방사능 피폭 후유증에 시달리고 있다는 소문에 대한 진위도 가려질 전망'이라면서 '북한의 핵시설 인근 지역 출신 탈북민들에 대한 피폭검사 및 건강검진이 조기에 이뤄져야 했는데 늦은 감이 있다'고 지적했다.(연합)