020512 South Korea Confirms Foot-and-Mouth DiseaseMay 4, 2002Seoul, South Korea - South Korea confirmed an outbreak of foot-and- mouth disease that prompted authorities to order the slaughter of thousands of pigs, two years after the deadly livestock ailment devastated the country's pork exports. Amid fears that the disease was spreading, agriculture officials clamped down on movements of livestock and instructed the nation's pig and cattle farmers to fumigate their facilities. "We have a strict ban on any movement of livestock in areas surrounding the stricken farms," said Kim Chang-sup, an official at Seoul's Agriculture Ministry. "Those who wish to move their animals in other areas will go through precautions, such as fumigating the animals in the presence of officials." The ministry confirmed that foot-and-mouth disease killed 280 pigs that died earlier this week with blisters in their hooves and mouths at a farm near Ansung, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital, Seoul. About 10,000 pigs were slaughtered in the area to prevent the disease from spreading. The ministry also determined that 50 pigs in a farm at Jinchun, a town 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Ansung, were also infected with foot-and- mouth, which spreads rapidly among cloven-hoofed animals such as cows and pigs but is not dangerous to humans. "We will slaughter all 1,000 pigs in the farm at Jinchun, and we are trying to determine how many more pigs we should kill in the surrounding area," Kim said. Local television footage showed soldiers and health officials fumigating farms and spraying decontaminants on vehicles entering villages. News of the outbreak came just as neighboring Japan had begun lifting a ban on South Korean pork that was imposed after the disease struck some farms two years ago. The Japanese government responded Saturday by slapping a provisional ban on imports of pork, beef, mutton and meat products from South Korea, said Hiroyuki Otomo, an official at Tokyo's Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry. Almost 95% of South Korea's dlrs 339 million annual pork exports went to Japan until early 2000, when Japan imposed a ban on South Korean pork after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. South Korea exported only dlrs 75 million in pork in 2000 and dlrs 46 million last year, mostly to Russia, the Philippines and a few other Southeast Asian countries. The 2000 outbreak forced authorities to slaughter 2,200 cattle and pigs and inoculate 1.5 million. It cost the government and farmers an estimated dlrs 231 million, according to government data.
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