South Korea has confirmed its first case of foot-and-mouth disease this year.

The agriculture ministry announced on Saturday that the case was confirmed in a cattle farm in Incheon's Ganghwa County on Friday. 

The ministry raised the alert level of the animal disease control system from the lowest level of "attention" to the highest “serious” on the four-tier scale for Incheon and Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province while raising the level to the second-lowest "caution" for remaining areas. 

Authorities dispatched a response team and epidemiology experts to the farm, restricting the movement of livestock and vehicles and carrying out disinfection measures.

In line with the standard operating procedure, the 246 cows on the affected farm will be culled.