Junghoon Ki, Minki Sung, and Choongik Choi Journal of People, Plants, and Environment Vol. 22, No. 6, 2019∙563 Introduction North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, and most recently the sixth nuclear test on September 3, 2017. As it has continued to conduct nuclear tests, their explosive power has also increased (Jang, 2017). As the maximum pow- er of the nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, Hamgyeongbuk-do surpassed the maximum estimated power of the sixth nu- clear test, 160kt, and reached 200kt, there is a growing concern about the possibility that the mountains near the site of which ground has already been weakened due to the repeated nuclear tests can collapse if nuclear tests are J. People Plants Environ. Vol. 22 No. 6: 563-573, December 2019 https://doi.org/10.11628/ksppe.2019.22.6.563 JPPE Impact of Nuclear Tests on Deforestation in North Korea using Google Earth-Based Spatial Images Junghoon Ki 1,2,3* , Minki Sung 4 , and Choongik Choi 5 1 Department of Public Administration, School of Social Science, Myongji University, Seoul 03674, Korea 2 Big Data Analytics Center, Myongji University, Seoul 03674, Korea 3 GeODesign Institute, Myongji University, Seoul 03674, Korea 4 Graduate School of Record, Archives & Information Science, Myongji University, Seoul 03674, Korea 5 Department of Public Administration, School of Social Science, Kangwon National University, Gangwon 24341, Korea ABSTRACT The North Korean government conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 and more recently the sixth nuclear test on September 3, 2017. In order to identify how North Korea's nuclear tests have affected the environment, a scientific approach is required. Although North Korea’s nuclear tests and their environmental destruction are not a severe threat to the environment of the Korean Peninsula at this time, identifying environmental damage and taking countermeasures in advance are essential to minimize their potential threats to the environments. The purpose of this study is to study the environmental impact of North Korea’s nuclear tests using Google Earth image analysis. As a method of the study, we compare Google Earth images taken before and after each nuclear test was conducted in North Korea. To overcome limitations of the suggested comparison method, we cross-checked our results with those of previous scientific research. After the 1st-3rd nuclear tests, green spaces were found to be considerably reduced. In particular, when comparing the Google Earth images before and after the second nuclear test, some ground subsidences were observed. Such subsidences can cause tunnels on the mountainsides and cracks in rocks around the mountains, leading to the release of radioactive materials and contaminating groundwater. Besides, after the 4th-6th nuclear tests, decay and deforestation were observed not in the nuclear test sites, but in their surrounding areas. Especially after the 5th and 6th nuclear tests, the topography and the forests of the surrounding areas were severely damaged. In relation to North Korea’s nuclear tests and their impact on the natural environment, we need to prepare various policy measures to reduce North Korea's environmental pollution and natural environment destruction. Those policy measures include the establishment of various cooperative governance between the Korean government, the private sector, the academia, NGOs, and international organizations. Keywords: deforestation, environmental destruction, Google Earth image, nuclear testing This study was conducted under the basic research project (No.: NRF-2014R1A1A2056499) supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea with the budget supported by the government (Ministry of Education) in 2014. This work was supported by 2019 Research Fund of Myongji University. Received: October 21, 2019, Revised: November 11, 2019, Accepted: November 24, 2019 First author: Junghoon Ki, johnki@mju.ac.kr, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7554-9573 *Corresponding author: Junghoon Ki, johnki@mju.ac.kr, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7554-9573 Ⓒ 2019 by the Society for People, Plants, and Environment. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.