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Radioactive materials from NK’s nuke test unlikely to reach S. Korean waters

By Yonhap

Published : Oct. 30, 2017 - 10:28

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A recent study showed radioactive materials arising from North Korea's nuclear testing would affect the sea off Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido but not South Korean waters, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.

Kim Hyun-gwon of the ruling Democratic Party unveiled the result of the state-run Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology's simulation of the North Korean nuclear program's potential impact on the marine ecology. 

Kim Hyun-gwon, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party. (Yonhap) Kim Hyun-gwon, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party. (Yonhap)

The first such experiment was conducted shortly after the North's sixth nuclear detonation on Sept. 3.

The simulation, in which an amount of radioactive cesium 137 was presumed to be released in the air, showed radioactive materials from North Korea's Punggye-ri test site moving in a northeasterly direction and reaching Hokkaido without flowing into South Korean waters.

The lawmaker called on the government to step up research on the leakage of radioactive materials from the North's testing. (Yonhap)