The Agriculture Ministry said Thursday that the world's leading animal health organization has confirmed a foot-and-mouth outbreak near Pyongyang, North Korea.

According to the ministry, the outbreak was first reported at a farm near the North Korean capital Wednesday, affecting more than 26-hundred cows and pigs so far. It said that the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health has confirmed the outbreak.

As the disease is believed to have spread from China, the South Korean government is stepping up quarantine inspections of people arriving from North Korea to prevent the spread of the disease to the South.