North Korean soldiers guarding the country ’s nuclear programme are dying of agonising diseases with horrifying oozing sores, according to a defector . Kim Jeong-ae lived close to the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre before escaping to the south. She claimed her brother, Kim Jong-chul, spent 13 years guarding the facility after getting conscripted, and banned from visiting his family. They mistakenly believed he was based in Pyongyang, with his letters giving away nothing. She said: “