Anchor: South Korea on Tuesday confirmed the country's fourth case of African swine fever(ASF) in Paju, the same city where the first case of the deadly animal disease was confirmed a week ago. The series of confirmations are fueling concerns that the virus is spreading to other parts of Gyeonggi Province or possibly farther. 
Celina Yoon has more.

Report: A fourth case of African swine fever(ASF) in the country was confirmed at a pig farm in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near the inter-Korean border on Tuesday. 

The farm, which is raising 23-hundred pigs, is less than seven kilometers away from where the second case was reported a week ago in neighboring Yeoncheon County. 

Earlier on Monday, the ministry confirmed a third case in Gimpo, the first from a region south of the Han River, which runs through Seoul, adding to woes over a possible nationwide outbreak of the disease. 

In response, the Agriculture Ministry sent quarantine officials to enforce movement restrictions on humans, livestock and vehicles and to carry out emergency disinfection measures. 

The ministry initiated a 48-hour standstill for pig farms, feed factories, and slaughterhouses located in Gyeonggi Province, Incheon, and Gangwon Province starting from 7:30 p.m. Monday. 

Authorities have also been slaughtering pigs within a three-kilometer radius of the affected farms. 

The highly contagious animal disease appears to have spread despite efforts by farm operators to protect their pigs through various measures, such as the erection of fences to keep ASF-infected wild boars away and removing leftover food from the pigs’ diet.

The ASF outbreak in South Korea comes roughly four months after North Korea first reported the presence of the disease within its borders to the World Organization for Animal Health.

There is at present no vaccine or known cure for ASF. Though the disease is not harmful to humans, the fatality rate is close to 100 percent for pigs.
Celina Yoon, KBS World Radio News.