Radiation from blasts carried out at the Punggye-ri test site is so poisonous it is leaving people permanently disabled.

Of the 30 North Korea citizens have defected across the border from the Kilju region – close to the nuclear base – all of them have shown signs of radiation sickness.

This includes Lee Jeong Hwan, who suffers from crippling and constant pain, and is being treated by South Korean medics.

Lee said: “So many people died we began calling it 'ghost disease'.

“We thought we were dying because we were poor and we ate badly. Now we know it was the radiation.”

Another defector, who lived just miles from the test site, revealed she once saw her neighbour giving birth to a deformed baby.

Rhee Yeong Sil said: “We couldn't determine the gender of the baby because it didn't have any genitals.

“In North Korea, deformed babies are usually killed. So the parents killed the baby.”

Rhee and Lee both claim they had no idea what was being done at the site until they escaped the country and were told what the tremors coming from it really are.

But some scientists have said not all those who say they are affected can prove their symptoms are a result of radiation.

Kune-you, a nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University, commented: “I don't think they're lying.

“We have to take their word, but I don't have much reliable information.”

Kim Jong-un has been tireless in ordering numerous nuclear tests.

Just days ago, the Hermit Kingdom fired its highest-ever ICBM, which flew 1,000 higher than its previous launch in July.

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