Chinese geologists today warned their North Korean counterparts that the Punggye-ri underground nuclear facility may collapse if future tests are carried out at the same location.
Experts claimed future testing might “blow the top off the mountain,” spreading radioactive waste through the wind and cracks created during the implosion.
And they suggested the deadly radiation cloud could spread across the entire hemisphere sparking a major global disaster.
The dangerously high levels of radiation could kill thousands or even millions – perhaps not instantly, but over the following weeks, months and years.
A researcher at the country’s Peking University, said: “China cannot sit and wait until the site implodes.
“Our instruments can detect nuclear fallout when it arrives, but it will be too late by then.
“There will be public panic and anger at the government for not taking action.”
Lan Xiaoqing, a researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics Associate, said: “The fallout can spread to an entire hemisphere.”
All of North Korea’s nuclear tests have been conducted near the same mountain.
Punggye-ri was the site of North Korea’s sixth-ever nuclear test on September 3, which caused a huge earthquake and sparked a series of smaller tremors and landslides ever since.
Foreign experts and human rights activists had warned this month of the danger of despot Kim Jong-un’s crumbling facilities.
On Monday South Korea warned another nuclear test at the site could lead to a total collapse of the mountain facility, causing a deadly leak of radioactive materials.
And today it was revealed today that around 100 people were killed when an unfinished tunnel collapsed at North Korea’s Punggye-ri facility.
Another group of around 100 people subsequently died while attempting to rescue the entombed workers.
The disaster was revealed by Japan’s TV Asahi today, although they could not clarify when the accident and subsequent doomed rescue attempts took place.
They said North Korean sources told them the collapse occurred as workers were working on the new tunnel. A second collapse took place as workers tried to rescue their colleagues.
The collapse is seen as evidence the September 3 test destabilised the mountainside facility after North Korea tested a huge 100-kiloton explosive which was around seven times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during WW2.