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| Rep. Lee In-young, second from left, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), speaks during a meeting of the party's supreme council at the National Assembly, Oct. 14. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
With South Korea reporting 14 confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF) at pig farms ― all in areas bordering North Korea ― speculation that wild boars from the North were the cause of the spread has gained further public support. Some people have claimed that the pigs could have crossed the border either through water or ground routes.
South Korea's first outbreak of the highly contagious disease which is fatal to pigs was in mid-September, several months after the North reported an outbreak around mid-June.
Lawmakers including the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) floor leader Rep. Lee In-young called on North Korea to cooperate in efforts to prevent the spread of ASF.
"We need to cooperate with North Korea for more fundamental and extensive preventive measures against the spread of ASF," Lee said during a meeting of the DPK supreme council at the National Assembly on Oct. 14. "[The two Koreas] should jointly cope with disasters or diseases."
DPK supreme council member Rep. Sul Hoon also called for an inter-Korean joint investigation over the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where a dead wild boar was found with traces of the deadly animal virus in early October, and joint decontamination efforts.
Sul referred to a similar joint decontamination project by the two Koreas in 2007 when the South offered decontamination equipment and disinfectants worth 2.6 billion won (about $2.2 million).
Meanwhile, major opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) leader Hwang Kyo-ahn criticized the government's "late" response to counter the spread of ASF, saying President Moon Jae-in should have called on the North to do more.
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| Hwang Kyo-ahn, center, leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), speaks during a meeting for the party's supreme council at the National Assembly, Oct. 14. Yonhap |
"It is highly likely that ASF has been spread from North Korea, but [the government] has not said a word to the North," Hwang said during a meeting of the LKP's supreme council on Oct. 14. He criticized the Moon Jae-in administration for "pussyfooting" around when it came to making demands of the North.
Hwang said that some people were speaking out against the government's decision to only slaughter pigs at South Korean farms, while they were not asking if pigs in the North were being culled.
LKP spokesman Rep. Kim Sung-won also said in a separate party commentary, Oct. 19, that the Moon administration's cautious stance over North Korea-related issues had led to it dealing poorly with ASF and contributed to it being unable to find the exact cause and inflow route.
The necessity of joint efforts to fight the deadly animal disease has been repeatedly raised by South Korea, but the North has yet to reply. Some believe the North is hiding the truth about the spread of ASF in its territory.
Moon's Peace Trail project suspended
The spread of ASF has also put the brakes on government-run DMZ Peace Trail programs in Paju in Gyeonggi Province, and Goseong and Cheorwon in Gangwon Province, one of the inter-Korean peace projects pushed for under the Moon Jae-in administration.
The delay comes with rising concerns that the DMZ and the nearby border areas could have been contaminated with ASF.
Tours and visits to the trails in Paju and Cheorwon have been suspended since Sept. 19, followed by the temporary closure of the Goseong trail as of Oct. 1.
The United Nations Command (UNC), which oversees activities within the DMZ in accordance with the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, had also ordered the temporary suspension of visits and tours to the Joint Security Area at the Panmunjeom inter-Korean truce village as of Oct. 1.
The government has yet to specify a timeline for the suspension, but environmental officials say the peace trail project is unlikely to reopen anytime soon.
