North Korean children are being born without anus, toes or hands as a mysterious illness dubbed “ghost disease” spreads near Kim Jong-un’s nuclear test site, a North Korean defector has said.
Youngran Lee, who lived near the Punggye-ri test site before she escaped in 2015, testified in chilling testimony that a horrific disease is sweeping the region, killing and deforming babies, and that doctors are unable to diagnose or treat the disease.
Ms Lee said: ‘In Kilju County, citizens are suffering from diseases without knowing why. In hospitals, doctors cannot diagnose them and patients are slowly dying from a lingering disease.
“It is not too drastic to say that having a child without an anus, toes or hands was normal in Kilju. In every other house there are patients with different types of cancer.”
The defector shared a rare insight into life in the “Hermit Kingdom” and expressed her concerns about living so close to a nuclear test zone. She described how her house shook and furniture fell from the walls as the military tested its weapons.
Youngran Lee (pictured) gave a rare insight into life near a North Korean test site
She said her son (pictured) was one of the people struck by a mysterious illness
A guard stands at the entrance to the northern tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, 2018
The alleged demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in 2018
Mrs. Lee counts her only son among the victims of the ghost disease.
She said that in North Korea, medicines supplied by the UN are being hoarded by senior government officials and that despite promises of free health care, “pharmacy shelves are empty.”
When her son developed a mild fever in October 2014 at age 27, she turned to medicine smuggled from China on the black market.
But it didn’t help and she took him to the hospital.
She said: ‘A tuberculosis doctor told us that my son had holes in his lungs, which were 1.5 and 2.7 centimetres in size.
He also said he didn’t know why more and more young adults were coming to the hospital.
‘I couldn’t understand why this had happened to my son and felt so helpless.
‘In addition, he had eight close friends, and one by one they were diagnosed with tuberculosis starting in 2012. They died within four years.’
Ms Lee spent her savings on medicine for her son before fleeing to China in February 2015, hoping to find work and send more money home.
In August of that year, she arrived in South Korea, where she underwent mandatory training in preparation for life in a free society.
She said: ‘As soon as I was released, I contacted my son and told him to go to Pyongyang hospital.
But the next day he called back and said there were official instructions to deny tuberculosis and hepatitis patients from Kilju County entry into Pyongyang.
“The only reason given was that it was for Kim Jong-un’s safety, and there was no proper explanation.”
She continues: ‘For two years I transferred money to my son through intermediaries, because I was convinced that he was receiving the right care.
But in May 2018, I lost my boy, my pride and joy.
“My son died without ever reaching the hospital where he received a proper diagnosis.”
Ms Lee said she lived near a nuclear test site before it was demolished in 2018.
She said: ‘On the day the third nuclear test took place, a wall clock fell and the lights started shaking. I thought it was an earthquake and ran outside.
‘All my neighbors were outside too. Shortly after, around noon, the main public address system announced that the third nuclear test had been successful.
“Then we realized that the military-controlled area in Punggye-ri was a testing site.”
Locals danced in the streets to celebrate the news, but they would be among the first victims of North Korea’s nuclear program.
The nuclear test site was reportedly destroyed in 2018
Kim Jong Un meets with soldiers during a visit to a Western operational training base in North Korea
Kim Jong Un inspects a key operational training base at an undisclosed location in March
Experts are convinced that radiation is the real cause of the so-called ghost disease.
Nuclear scientist Joohyun Moon of Dankook University in South Korea described how radiation from the underground explosions could reach local communities.
He said: ‘As shock waves travel, they break the earth’s layers or create cracks.
‘After a while, a mixture of molten rock and radioactive material will cool and solidify.
‘Radioactive materials in this compound can enter holes or cracks created by the explosion and flow to the surface, soil or groundwater.
‘If it rains near the test site, these radioactive substances can enter the groundwater through the rain.
Groundwater is connected to rivers, streams and surface water, which releases these radioactive substances into the outside world.
‘Because it is part of the natural circulation, it is very difficult to intervene and prevent it.’
According to Dr. Moon, there are several ways in which radioactive material can enter the food chain.
People could drink the contaminated water, eat fish from it, eat crops grown with the water, or consume milk or meat from cattle fed the contaminated grass.
The nuclear test site is located on the banks of the Changhung River, which itself feeds the Namdae River, Kilju County’s main water source.
“Every household in Kilju gets its water from the well,” said Ms Lee.
Dr. Moon estimates that more than a million residents within a 25-mile radius of the testing site could be affected.
He said: ‘We can safely say that residents near the test site will be exposed to radiation for about 200 years.
‘The time frame will increase if more nuclear tests are conducted at the same location.’
He added: ‘If the situation continues without adequate protection, these people are more likely to develop cancer, leukaemia, chromosomal abnormalities etc. than people in other regions.’
Youngran is still living with the damage in South Korea.
The Korean People’s Army conducts an artillery fire exercise in March
She was one of five North Korean defectors from Kilju County who were tested for radiation in the South in 2016.
She said: ‘The test showed that the exposure level was very high and the white blood cell count was very low.
‘One of the participants suffered from excruciating headaches. They couldn’t even lift their heads. But no cause was found in any of the tests performed in the emergency department.’
Her own situation is no better.
She continues: ‘I have pain all over and I can’t walk properly because of the pain in my legs. In addition, I was admitted to hospital six times a year because of headaches.
‘The hospital couldn’t find a cause, but I can’t even open my eyes when I have a headache; I feel restless and have suicidal thoughts.
‘I know many people from Kilju who have the same complaints as I do.’