Some defectors hailing from areas around North Korea’s nuclear test site have been found to have chromosomal abnormalities, according to a new report, though researchers say they cannot prove this is a result of the country’s nuclear tests.

Seoul’s Ministry of Unification and the Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences (KIRAMS) announced that 17 out of 80 defectors screened for radiation exposure showed cumulative exposure doses exceeding the minimum detectable limit in stable chromosomal abnormality tests.

The 80 defectors hailed from eight districts neighboring the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country’s northeast. 

While raising the possibility that the