By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
The government plans to penalize livestock farmers who visit foot-and-mouth hit countries if an outbreak of the disease is reported on their farms later, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Monday.
The justice ministry and the immigration office will check whether the farmer visited high-risk countries once foot-and-mouth is reported.
Those confirmed to have been "imprudent" will not be compensated for culled animals and be ineligible for other subsidiaries given to disaster-stricken farmers, the authorities said.
This is part of measures to stem the further spread of the highly contagious disease, five cases of which have been reported since last Friday.
The move comes as preliminary reports said the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak on Ganghwa Island, Gyeonggi Province, could have been caused by a farmer who recently visited China. The neighboring country reported a case earlier this month. The disease can be transported via clothing, shoes and other products. It is non-harmful to humans but dangerous for cattle, pigs, deer and goats among other animals.
"This is the most effective way to prevent the virus from entering the country," the ministry said in a press release.
The government has raised its alert level to "orange," the second-highest, and will cull and bury 26,000 animals at 211 farms located within three kilometers around the reported outbreaks.
The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Hanwoo Association and the Korea Swine Association will provide up-to-date information about the spread of the disease via mobile phone text messages and on their Web sites.
The outbreak took place only days after the administration declared the area was clear from the disease on March 23, about three months after an initial report. A total of 5,956 animals, worth 42.5 billion won, were destroyed.
The ministry, meanwhile, said that unlike the "type A" outbreaks reported in January in Pocheon, north of Seoul, the latest outbreaks in Ganghwa are of the "type O" variety that can spread quickly among pigs. The country reported type O outbreaks in 2000 and 2002.
Over the weekend, quarantine authorities said they have culled all cloven-hoofed livestock within a 3 kilometer radius of one affected farm, wider than the previous 500 meters.
They also raised the crisis alert level to orange, the second-highest of four stages, in a bid to tighten control of the disease.
All cars leaving Ganghwa via the two bridges linking it to the mainland are being decontaminated, with people advised not to visit the island until the outbreak has come under control.