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South Korean troops stationed along the world's last Cold War frontier have been put on high alert in the face of a new infiltration threat from the nuclear-armed North -- fever-stricken wild boar.
An outbreak of African swine fever that has cut swathes through China, Vietnam and Mongolia has spread to the isolated country, sparking worries that sick animals crossing the heavily militarized border could devastate the South's US$5.9 billion pork industry.
"We need to focus on preventing wild boars in the North from entering our territory," the South's Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon said Saturday after visiting a pig farm near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two countries.
African swine fever is known to be harmless to humans but is fatal to pigs and wild boar and has devastated supply chains in China -- the world's largest consumer of pork -- where authorities have ordered the culling of hundreds of thousands of pigs.
Pyongyang told the World Organisation for Animal Health that 77 out of 99 pigs had died from the disease at a farm near the China border, according to Seoul's agricultural ministry.
The ministry said Friday that the disease is "highly likely" to hit the South, and the government has ordered fences to be erected at farms along the border to prevent possible contact between pigs and wild boars.
Seoul believes Pyongyang raises some 2.6 million pigs across 14 state-run farms. The outbreak could worsen food shortages in the impoverished North, where, according to the World Food Programme, its output last year hit the lowest level since 2008.
In the South, there are about 6,700 pig farms across the country, and pig farming accounts for 40 percent of the total livestock industry.
In 2011, a devastating outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease hit the entire Korean peninsula and resulted in the culling of nearly 3.5 million cattle, pigs and other animals in South Korea alone.
While its bristling fortifications, rolls of barbed wire and trigger happy North Korean troops mean crossing the DMZ can be deadly for humans, the zone has been untouched by development and is a haven for wildlife.
Last October a rare Asiatic black bear was photographed in the zone, Seoul's environmental ministry said.
Hong Kong to cull 4,700 pigs after second swine fever case found
Hong Kong (AFP) June 1, 2019 -
Hong Kong will cull 4,700 pigs after African swine fever was detected in an animal at a slaughterhouse close to the border with China, the second such case in a month in the crowded financial hub.
The animal came from a farm in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and importation from mainland China has been suspended until further notification, Sophia Chan, Secretary of the city's Food and Health Department said Friday night.
The government-run slaughterhouse in Sheung Shui will be closed for cleansing and disinfection, she added.
Last month around 6,000 pigs were culled after the virus was detected in a pig imported from a farm in the same province. Supply from across the border was temporarily suspended for a week during the disinfection of slaughterhouse.
Pork is a staple of Chinese cuisine, with space-starved Hong Kong importing the majority of what it consumes from the mainland.
After African swine fever spread across more than half of China's provinces last year, Hong Kong banned imports from any Chinese farm where the virus had been detected.
Chinese officials have said hundreds of thousands of pigs were culled in a bid to stop its spread -- an effort that has also seen restrictions on transporting pigs from affected areas.
With some of the world's most densely populated streets, Hong Kong remains on high alert to diseases. In 2003, some 300 people died during an outbreak of severe acute respiratory disease (SARS).
The virus is not dangerous to humans but is fatal to pigs and wild boar.
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