hankyoreh

By Kim Hyun-dae, Senior Staff Writer

The foot-and-mouth outbreak has transitioned from bad to worse with the discovery of the disease at a pig breeding farm in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. With 21 farms nationwide confirmed to have been supplied with piglets from the farm, in locations such as Dangjin in South Chungcheong Province, Icheon and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province, and Goesan in North Chungcheong Province, the foot-and-mouth outbreak zone now more or less encompasses the entire country.

As the disease has also been confirmed in Incheon and Ganghwa, the official outbreak area has expanded to include the four cities and provinces of North Gyeongsang, Gyeonggi, Ganghwa, and Incheon.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced Friday that a positive test for foot-and-mouth was found at the Sangol Farm in Geumho Village, Hwanam Township, Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. Sangol Farm is a leading pig breeding facility that raises piglets to the age of two to three months and supplies them to commissioning pig farms nationwide.

The first investigation by health authorities confirmed that piglets had been supplied to 21 farms nationwide. Of these, four farms located in Dangjin, Icheon, Pyeongtaek, and Goesan were reported to have a relatively clear epidemiological relationship. Dangjin is nearby the domestic swine industry mecca of Hongseong, while Icheon contains a cluster of large-scale farms, including one for Dodram Livestock, the country’s largest swine company. Pyeongtaek contains numerous large-scale dairy farms, while Goesan has 65 farms where approximately 75 thousand pigs are being raised.

“Dangjin, Icheon, and Pyeongtaek are all large swine-farming clusters, and Goesan also has breeding at a considerable scale, so if there is final confirmation of an epidemiological relationship it will be a fatal blow for the domestic swine industry,” said an official with the health authorities.”Something unimaginable has happened.”

The official went on to say that because the Yeongcheon piglets were supplied to swine farms across the country, attention was focusing on the results of future epidemiological studies.

“Basically, the entire country has entered the foot-and-mouth outbreak zone,” the official said.

With this, observers say an upgrade in the foot-and-mouth disease alert to the highest level, severe, appears inevitable.

The city of Yeongcheong and health authorities began immediate efforts to bury the 24 thousand pigs raised at the breeding farm, with plans to extend the burial to include all livestock within a three-kilometer radius for preventive purposes.

The MIFAFF also announced additional confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in Ganghwa’s Josan Village, Yangdo Township, the site of an outbreak this past spring, as well as a Hakgok Village, Hoengseong Town in Hoengseong, Gangwon Province. A suspected case was also reported Friday from a pig farm in Angang Town, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. This indicates a true red alert, as Gyeongju is home to the largest concentration of cattle breeding for any single city or county.

The latest cases mean that the official outbreak zone has extended to four metropolitan cities and provinces, with the total number of animals targeted for burial rising above 320 thousand as of Friday, including the pigs from the Yeongcheon farm.

Health authorities plan to send out 200 teams as of Saturday at the earliest to carry out a first round of foot-and-mouth vaccinations on some 133 thousand cattle at 7,016 farms in North Gyeongsang Province’s Andong and Yecheon and Gyeonggi Province’s Paju, Goyang, and Yeoncheon. The National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service sent vaccine to the different regions on Friday afternoon. Hoengseong County also requested vaccinations to prevent the disease from spreading, but the MIFAFF declined the request for the time being and advised waiting to see how the situation progresses.

Critics, including some within the ruling Grand National Party, are decrying the indifferent attitude shown by GNP and opposition party politicians despite the worsening situation.

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