North Korean state-run media say authorities have set up an emergency task force against avian influenza.

The North's Korean Central TV said Tuesday the national quarantine committee was set up on the orders of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The broadcaster said the panel is overseeing sanitary, quarantine and preventive measures in Pyongyang and all other towns and cities.

Earlier this month North Korea banned South Korean eggs and chicken products from the Gaesong Industrical Complex after the outbreak of avian influenza in the South.

North Korea culled 210-thousand chickens in an outbreak that occurred in February 2005. It has since participated in a training program run by the World Health Organization.