South Korea tackles fatal cattle disease

Cattle are disinfected as a precaution

South Korean is to launch a big testing and vaccination programme to contain an outbreak of cattle killer foot-and-mouth disease.

The government announced on Monday that all livestock are to be tested for the disease, and the authorities want to vaccinate 12,000 cows and pigs every day.

Plans to destroy 350,000 cattle and pigs in affected areas were announced at the weekend.

There has been one confirmed outbreak of the disease - the first for almost 70 years - while two others are awaiting test results for confirmation.

Korean beef not welcome in:

Japan

Taiwan

Australia

Hong Kong

Singapore

Beef and pork imports from South Korea have already been banned by several major foreign markets, and there are fears the disease could devastate the country's meat export industry.

Foot-and-mouth disease is highly contagious. It affects cows, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals. Humans can not catch the disease.

Outbreak

People cannot catch foot-and-mouth but consumers are put off

More than 93 cattle suspected of having the disease were slaughtered over the weekend in the country of Hongsong, south of Seoul.

Last week, 105 cattle were slaughtered in Paju, a village north of Seoul, where the first cases of the disease were diagnosed.

The Korean peninsula has been free of foot-and-mouth since 1934.

Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore suspended beef and pork imports from South Korea when reports of disease among Korean cattle first surfaced last week.

South Korean pork exporters, who were forecasting $400 million of exports to Japan this year, said such a ban would wipe out their entire export market.

The government said it would buy the meat from farmers or reimburse farmers who have to sell their meat at lower prices.

Japan is also investigating a potential case of foot-and-mouth after cattle disease broke out in a small farm on the southernmost main island of Kyushu.

It is considering the suspension of straw imports from China, Taiwan and South Korea, fearing it could the cause of the outbreak.

An outbreak in Taiwanese pigs three years ago wiped out almost all of the country's pig population.