South Korea has tightened quarantine inspections on automobiles and personnel crossing the inter-Korean border following North Korea’s confirmation of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

A Seoul official says that quarantine inspections were heightened Friday at border transit offices on the inter-Korean Gyeongui and Donghae highways, one day after the North confirmed the FMD outbreak.

Automatic chemical sprinklers have been installed to sterilize vehicles, and South Koreans returning from visits to the North must have their shoes and belongings sterilized.

North Korea's Korean Central News Agency announced Thursday that ten-thousand cattle and pigs were infected with the disease. It then declared a nationwide emergency quarantine.

South Korean health authorities have been working since late last year to quell a nationwide FMD outbreak of its own that has resulted in a decision to cull over three million animals to stem the disease’s spread.