SEOUL - South Korea confirmed on Tuesday
its fourth case of African swine fever at a hog farm in a town
40 km (25 miles) north of its capital Seoul, just a week after
the deadly disease was first discovered in the country.
The agriculture ministry confirmed the fourth case of swine
fever in the town of Paju, near the border with North Korea,
after reporting the county's third case late on Monday.
Since South Korea's first outbreak of African swine fever
was discovered on September 17, more than 15,000 pigs have been
culled, according to data from the agriculture ministry, or
about 0.1% of the country's pig population of 12.3 million pigs.
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, has raised its
animal disease alert to the highest level following the outbreak
and ramped up disinfection measures to try to keep the virus
spreading further.
In North Korea, African swine fever virus was first
discovered in May and has continued spreading there as well, a
South Korean lawmaker said on Tuesday, despite the impoverished
country's efforts to cull pigs and ban distribution of pork.
After North Korea's first outbreak of the highly contagious
virus four months ago, it imported disinfectants from overseas,
but it has not been able to contain the disease, the lawmaker
Lee Eun-jae told reporters after being briefed on the matter by
the South's spy agency on Tuesday.
In North Korea, which faces chronic food shortages, swine
fever has killed all pigs in North Pyongan province, the Yonhap
News Agency reported, citing South Korea's intelligence agency.
South Korea has yet to determine how or from where African
swine fever entered the country, although it is conducting an
investigation. It has also proposed to work together with North
Korea to keep the virus from spreading in both countries, but
Pyongyang has no responded yet, according to the Unification
Ministry in South Korea.
African swine fever, nearly 100% fatal to pigs though not
harmful to humans, has spread throughout Asia - including to
both Koreas and to Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines - since
first being detected in China in mid-2018, resulting in
large-scale culls and lower output of pork.