据报道，在第五次核试验之后，朝鲜患有不治之症和因辐射致死的人数飙升。
North Korea has reportedly seen a surge in incurable diseases and radiation deaths after it carried out its fifth nuclear test.
上个月，这一神秘的国家因成功核爆引发了一场5.3级的地震，这立即收到了朝鲜各邻国和华盛顿政府的谴责。
Last month the secretive state triggered a magnitude 5.3 earthquake with a successful explosion which drew immediate condemnation from North Korea's neighbours and Washington.
一名脱北者声称，现在居住在朝鲜东北部靠近丰溪里核试验站的人们正在为核试验付出代价。
Now those living close to the Punggye-ri nuclear site, in the north-east of the country, are paying the price for the nuclear tests, a defector has claimed.
他向《每日星报》透露：“由于政府的核狂热，万塔山正在成为一个辐射污染之地。”
The defector told the Daily Star: "Mantapsan mountain is becoming a radioactively contaminated site due to the government's nuclear craze."
“喝这里的水的人们正忍受着不治之症、胎儿畸形和异常的高死亡率的折磨。”
"The people who drink the water are suffering various incurable diseases, foetal deformities and an unusually high death rate."
俄勒冈州立大学和科学核工程主任凯瑟琳·希格利表示：“朝鲜的地下试验绝对有可能已经辐射了地下水。”
Kathryn Higley, head of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Oregon State University, said it was 'definitely a possibility' the North's underground tests had irradiated the groundwater.
朝鲜被国际社会禁止开发和试验核导弹技术，但是在过去几年它已几次对此置之不理。该国的目标是开发一种可发射至美国本土的核弹头导弹。
North Korea is under an international ban on developing and testing nuclear and missile technology - but has flouted that several times in the past few years. The country aims to develop a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the US mainland.