The South Korean government says it is not considering making a renewed offer to help North Korea deal with the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do said Friday that North Korea has yet to respond to Seoul's offer for a working-level meeting to provide disinfectants and a vaccine for the epidemic. The ministry made the offer on February 24th, shortly after North Korean media reported on the outbreak of the infectious disease. 

While snubbing Seoul's offer, Pyongyang asked for support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

A UN team of inspectors who recently returned from the North said that the disease has spread to a farm near the inter-Korean demilitarized zone in Gangwon Province.