A new case of bird flu has been confirmed in Gyeonggi Province - the first since the initial scare over the deadly disease died down nearly a month and a half ago.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry confirmed Sunday a case of the avian influenza in a poultry farm in Yangju, north of Seoul. The ministry culled some 400-thousand chickens and ducks at 20 farms within a 3-kilometer radius and has set up checkpoints to ban access to the area within a 10-kilometer radius.

Ministry officials said that they are also recalling some one-thousand-500 chickens shipped out of the farms.

The ministry added that it had confirmed that a magpie in Yangsan, four-hundred-20 kilometers south of Seoul, had been infected with the bird flu after testing nearly 100 magpies in the region. It is the first time that the deadly virus has been found in a wildlife bird.

South Korea culled nearly five million chickens and ducks to contain the spread of the H5N1 virus that causes the disease, doling out some 42 billion won or around 35 million U.S. dollars for compensation.

There are no signs that the disease crossed the species barrier to humans in South Korea.