South Korea plans to conduct a radiation test on 89 North Korean defectors who hailed from areas near the North's Punggye-ri nuclear testing site, Seoul's unification ministry said Thursday, amid concerns about their possible exposure to radioactive leaks.
The radiation testing will be carried out starting in May for six months on North Korean defectors who had lived in Kilju County and its nearby areas, and escaped the North after its first nuclear test in 2006, according to the ministry.
"It would be meaningful to preemptively check the possibility of exposure to radioactive leaks and overall health conditions for those who may have sustained damage from the North's nuclear tests," a ministry official told reporters.
Among the 89 defectors to undergo the testing, nine defectors will be the ones who received the result of having suspected radiation exposure during the government's similar radiation testing held in 2017.
At that time, the unification ministry said some defectors showed signs of suspected radiation exposure in the medical checkup, but it is hard to confirm the nuclear tests affected them.
The North's Punggye-ri nuclear site is located at Kilju County in the country's northeastern province. The secretive regime has conducted all of its six nuclear tests at the site.
Source: Yonhap News Agency