Concerns about radiation and contamination are on the rise on the Korean Peninsula following the North Korean regime's nuclear tests. But claims made in this regard by North Korean refugees are hard to prove.
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Lee Jeong-hwa's home county of Kilju is located in the mountainous northeastern part of North Korea. The region is home to the isolated East Asian nation's Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which she thought was an ordinary military base. She believed the trembling of the earth following the first two nuclear tests was a consequence of natural earthquakes.
"And then suddenly many people were contracting diseases that doctors were unable to diagnose," recollected Lee, who is in her mid-40s.
It's been seven years since Lee Jeong-hwa fled North Korea. Even though she is currently living in the South Korean capital Seoul, her hometown is not faraway from her thoughts. Lee suspects that her native region could have been contaminated by the North's nuclear tests.
Six tests
Pyongyang's reclusive regime, led by the Kim dynasty, has conducted six nuclear tests since 2006. All these explosions were carried out at the same location in Punggye-ri site, whose tunnels extend up to two kilometers below the earth's surface.
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The most recent test conducted by the North, in September, was that of a supposed hydrogen bomb, which marked a significant upgrade of the nation's nuclear program. With an explosive potential of possibly up to 200 kilotons, it was the most powerful device ever fired by Pyongyang. It triggered not only massive landslides on site, but also a quake of magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale. Since then, concerns about nuclear contamination are on the rise.
Suh Kyun-ryul, professor of nuclear engineering at Seoul National University, believes the mountain structure in Punggye-ri has now been badly affected. "If the North Koreans continue to test similarly heavy nuclear bombs on the same site, sooner or later they will lead to a premature collapse, where radioactive material could reach and contaminate both the groundwater and the surface of the earth."
According to "Vision of North Korea," a South Korean NGO, the disaster may have already been here. In a multi-year investigation, they have collected testimonies from 21 North Korean refugees from the region. Their statements included the claims that many plants had unusually died, underground water sources had dried up and brown trout – once a regional specialty – had washed up dead in the nation's rivers.
But the most serious charge was that an increasing number of newborns from the affected area were suffering from deformities at birth. The NGO alleges that this was a consequence of radioactive radiation.
The truth and myths of the Kim dynasty
The Kim family has ruled North Korea for the last seven decades, with state-run propaganda praising Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un as godlike figures. DW looks at the rulers behind the myths.
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A young leader
Kim Il Sung, the first and "eternal" president of North Korea, took power in 1948 with the support of the Soviet Union. The official calendar in North Korea begins with his birth year, 1912, designating it "Juche 1" after the state's Juche ideology. He was 41 when, as shown here, he signed the 1953 armistice that effectively ended the Korean War.
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Hero worship
In the years and decades after the war, Pyongyang's propaganda machine worked hard to weave a mythical narrative around Kim Il Sung. His childhood and the time he spent fighting Japanese troops in the 1930s were embellished to portray him as an unrivaled military and political genius.
At the 1980 party congress, Kim announced he would be succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il.
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Ruling to the end
In 1992, Kim Il Sung started writing and publishing his memoirs, entitled "Reminiscences: With the Century." Describing his childhood, the North Korean leader claims that he first joined an anti-Japanese rally at 6 years old and became involved with the independence struggle at 8.
The memoirs remained unfinished at Kim Il Sung's death in 1994.
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In his father's footsteps
After spending years in the top tiers of the regime, Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death. Kim Jong Il's 16-year rule was marked by famine and economic crisis in an already impoverished country. However, the cult of personality surrounding him and his father, Kim Il Sung, grew even stronger.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/KCNA via Korean News Service
Rising star
Historians outside North Korea believe Kim Jong Il was born in a military camp in eastern Russia, most likely in 1941. However, the leader's official biography claims it happened on the sacred Korean mountain Paektu, exactly 30 years after his father, on April 15, 1942. A North Korean legend says the birth was blessed by a new star and a double rainbow.
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Family trouble
Kim Jong Il had three sons and two daughters with three different women. This 1981 photo shows Kim Jong Il sitting besides his son Kim Jong Nam, with his sister-in-law and her two children in the background. Kim Jong Nam was eventually assassinated in 2017.
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Grooming a successor
In 2009, Western media reported that Kim Jong Il had picked his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, to take over as the head of the regime. The two appeared together at a military parade on 2010, a year before Kim Jong Il passed away.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/V. Yu
Together
According to Pyongyang, the death of Kim Jong Il in 2011 was marked by a series of mysterious events. State media reported that ice snapped loudly at a lake on the Paektu mountain during a sudden snowstorm, with a glowing message appearing on the rocks.
After Kim Jong Il's death, a 22-meter (72-foot) statue of him was erected next to the one of his father (l.) in Pyongyang.
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Mysterious past
Kim Jong Un mostly stayed out of the spotlight before his ascent to power. His exact age is disputed, but he is believed to have been born between 1982 and 1984. He was reportedly educated in Switzerland. In 2013, he surprised the world by meeting with former NBA star Dennis Rodman in Pyongyang.
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A new cult
Like the leaders before him, Kim Jong Un is hallowed by the state's totalitarian regime. In 2015, South Korean media reported about a new teacher's manual in the North that claimed Kim Jong Un could drive at the age of 3. In 2017, state media said that a monument to the young leader would be build on Mount Paektu.
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A Kim with a hydrogen bomb
Altough Kim took power at a younger age and with less of a public profile than his father and grandfather, he has managed to maintain his grip on power. The assassination of his half-brother Kim Jong Nam in 2017 served to cement his reputation abroad as a merciless dictator. The North Korean leader has also vastly expanded the country's nuclear arsenal.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/A. Young-joon
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No proof to confirm
One of the interviewees is the 60-year-old Rhee Yeong-sil, who lived only a few kilometers away from the nuclear test area until her escape in 2013.
"We had more sick people than in other regions, and my whole family suffered from severe headaches and nausea, which did not respond to any medicine," said Rhee, adding that "many have died from leukemia, even young people." She noted that she knew of at least two acquaintances that gave birth to physically deformed children.
Such statements' veracity could not be verified. In fact, the health conditions mentioned in these allegations could also be explained as occurring due to the acute shortage of food and healthcare provisions in the country.
Experts such as Seoul National University's Suh Kyun-ryul regard the allegations leveled by North Korean refugees as plausible. "I do not believe that they are lying, but ultimately we have to rely on their mere words, as we have little reliable data available."
The fears of the North Korean refugees serve as a warning to the international community. South Korea's Ministry of Unification, meanwhile, has begun to conduct tests on some 30 North Korean refugees from the affected region to find out if they could detect any traces of increased radioactivity.
According to a ministry spokeswoman, the results of the investigations would be available shortly before the end of the year. And until then, she said, the ministry will not comment on the issue publicly.
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