South Korea has banned imports of European Union meat products and livestock. The move follows the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease among farm animals in France Tuesday.

The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry said the French Embassy in Seoul confirmed the virulent disease reported in northwestern France is foot-and-mouth disease.

The latest ban covers meat and livestock imports from the 15-nation European Union. But a ministry spokesman said the import ban applies to only pork and ham, not to pasteurized products processed with a temperature high enough to kill the virus that causes the disease.

On Wednesday, Japan, Estonia and Latvia announced they were banning livestock products from France. Belgium, Spain and Portugal shut their borders to French meat or livestock earlier in the week. Some countries even said they would return meat and dairy products to France, which could cause an immediate 28 million dollar loss in export business.

The U.N. food agency said no country is safe from foot-and-mouth disease because of increased international trade, tourism and the movement of animals and animal products.