South Korea faces three more suspected cases of African swine fever.
With five confirmed cases already,… fears are rising within the country that the disease may spread southward.
Our Kim Jae-hee has more.
Five cases had already been confirmed... when on Wednesday the agriculture ministry reported three more suspected cases.
In the morning, it announced a case in Ganghwa County, Incheon.
Then, in the hours to come, there was another in Ganghwa and one more in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province.
If the three new cases are all confirmed, that'll bring the total confirmed cases of African swine fever to eight.
The ministry says it plans to inspect pig farms and livestock-related facilities in 154 cities and counties... as it prepares to disinfect them.
A 48-hour nationwide standstill has been in place since 12 PM Tuesday... for all pig farms, feed factories and slaughterhouses.
The entire province of Gyeonggi-do is now under quarantine... as is the city of Incheon and Gangwon-do Province.
Gyeonggi-do also said on Wednesday it will cull almost 40-thousand pigs near a farm in Paju where a case is already confirmed. That'll bring the total number of pigs put down across the country to more than 50-thousand.
The Blue House has also launched a separate task force that will get the latest information from agencies and come up with swift response measures.
African swine fever is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs,… so its spread could severely damage pork supplies across the country.
It's not clear how the disease got into South Korea, but it appeared in North Korea back in May, so the authorities are inspecting inter-Korean waterways.
According to South Korea's National Intelligence Service, the pig population of North Korea's Pyeonganbuk-do Province has been wiped out.
Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.