March 16, 2007

North Korea asks South to help with foot-and-mouth-disease
 

North Korea has asked its long-time adversary South Korea to help halt outbreak of highly infectious foot-and-mouth-disease which has already infected numerous cattle and pig population in the region, South Korea's unification minister said on Thursday (March 15).

North Korea said it had culled 466 cows and 2,630 pigs since an outbreak of the disease on January 10 at a farm near its capital, Pyongyang, South Korean Minister Lee Jae-joung said.

Lee said South Korea will help its neighbouring North because of a possible concern of the disease spreading in their region.

Foot-and-mouth is highly contagious for cloven-hoofed animals such as pigs and cows but harmless to humans.

South Korea's government has already stepped up its efforts to counter a potential outbreak of the disease, monitoring imported goods and passengers from North Korea, the Agriculture Ministry said. Pyongyang is about 130 kilometres (80 miles) from the South Korean border.

South Korea suffered foot-and-mouth outbreaks in 2000 and 2002, leading to the slaughter of 162,000 animals.