First reported case of African swine fever in North Korea confirmed on May 25. (Arirang)

South Korea is at Risk of Swine Flu Outbreak From North Korea

South Korea is currently on high alert to prevent an outbreak of swine flu that could infiltrate from stricken North Korea. The African swine fever has previously spread from China, Vietnam, Mongolia, and to the isolated country. As a preventive measure of the new threat from the North, South Korean troops stationed along the heavily militarized border to oversee the entry of infected wild boars into the territory.

There are about 6,700 pig farms across South Korea and 40% of the total livestock industry is coming from pig farming. Therefore, the news has been sparking worries that the outbreak could devastate the South's US$5.9 billion pork industry.

Even though African swine fever is known to be harmless to humans but it is fatal to pigs and wild boars that had devastated China’s supply chain as the world’s largest pork consumer. When a damaging outbreak of foot and mouth disease hit the entire Korean peninsula in 2011, the South’s authorities ordered the culling of nearly 3.5 million pigs, cattle, and other animals.

As the swine fever is likely to hit the South again, the government has ordered to erect fences at farms along the border to prevent the possibility of contact between farm pigs and wild boars.

After his visit to pig farm near the Demilitarized Zone on Saturday, South Korea’s Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon said that the government will focus on preventing wild boars from the North to enter the South’s territory.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/north-korea-swine-flu-outbreak-puts-south-on-edge-11587714