Seoul fears pig disease is spreading from border

South Korea said yesterday that it is investigating two more suspected cases of African swine fever from farms near its border with North Korea, as fears grow over the spread of the illness that has decimated pig herds across Asia.

South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Gyeonggi provincial government said officials are testing samples of dead pigs from two farms in Paju, a city where the country’s first case of the disease was confirmed on Monday. Test results were expected to come out as early as last night.

A second case of the disease was confirmed on Tuesday in the nearby town of Yeoncheon.

African swine fever is harmless to humans but highly contagious and fatal for pigs as there is no known cure. It has decimated herds in China and other Asian countries.

South Korea has stepped up efforts to contain the disease, which may have crossed from North Korea, where an outbreak was reported near its border with China in late May. South Korean workers had culled some 10,400 pigs at border area farms as of yesterday morning.

The ministry said quarantine officials were carrying out blood tests of pigs at some 100 farms within 10km of the infected farms in Paju and Yeoncheon, and that samples from 56 farms had come back negative.

There are about 6300 farms in South Korea that raise more than 11 million pigs. South Korean officials have said the next three weeks would be crucial for fighting the outbreak, considering the disease’s incubation periods. Officials have stepped up efforts to disinfect farms and vehicles, while imposing temporary bans on farms near the border from transporting their pigs to other areas.

Park Byeong-hong, an agriculture ministry official, said officials have also started inspections of some 200 slaughter houses, feed factories and artificial insemination facilities that deal with large numbers of pig farms across the country.