Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/world/2019/10/529754/north-korea-may-be-hiding-swine-fever-apocalypse-world
North Korea may be hiding a swine fever apocalypse from the world
By BLOOMBERG - October 14, 2019 @ 12:07pm
BY OFFICIAL accounts, the pig contagion wreaking havoc across Eastern Asia has virtually skipped over North Korea, with a single outbreak reported there in May. But wayward feral pigs have stoked concern that Kim Jong Un’s reclusive state is hiding an African swine fever disaster.
Five wild boars were found dead in or near border areas separating it from South Korea this month before being tested positive for the viral haemorrhagic disease. The finding reflects the freedom with which animals roam the 4-kilometer wide buffer zone that divides the nations and creates an involuntary park and refuge for fauna.
It also hints at a spillover of the deadly virus from North Korea, where unofficial reports indicate the disease is spreading out of control. South Korea has deployed helicopters to disinfect parts of the 250-kilometer-long border-barrier, near which more than a dozen outbreaks have occurred on farms since the virus was first reported there a month ago.
African swine fever has spread to almost all areas of North Korea, and pigs in the western province of North Pyongan have been “wiped out,” said Lee Hye-hoon, who chairs the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, citing South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.
The virus killed 22 hogs in May on a cooperative farm about 260 kilometers north of Pyongyang, near the border with China, North Korea’s agriculture ministry said in a May 30 report to the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE.
But since then, there have been no follow-up reports to the Paris-based veterinary body, and scant coverage of the event in state media...
North Korea may be hiding a swine fever apocalypse from the world
By BLOOMBERG - October 14, 2019 @ 12:07pm
BY OFFICIAL accounts, the pig contagion wreaking havoc across Eastern Asia has virtually skipped over North Korea, with a single outbreak reported there in May. But wayward feral pigs have stoked concern that Kim Jong Un’s reclusive state is hiding an African swine fever disaster.
Five wild boars were found dead in or near border areas separating it from South Korea this month before being tested positive for the viral haemorrhagic disease. The finding reflects the freedom with which animals roam the 4-kilometer wide buffer zone that divides the nations and creates an involuntary park and refuge for fauna.
It also hints at a spillover of the deadly virus from North Korea, where unofficial reports indicate the disease is spreading out of control. South Korea has deployed helicopters to disinfect parts of the 250-kilometer-long border-barrier, near which more than a dozen outbreaks have occurred on farms since the virus was first reported there a month ago.
African swine fever has spread to almost all areas of North Korea, and pigs in the western province of North Pyongan have been “wiped out,” said Lee Hye-hoon, who chairs the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, citing South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.
The virus killed 22 hogs in May on a cooperative farm about 260 kilometers north of Pyongyang, near the border with China, North Korea’s agriculture ministry said in a May 30 report to the World Organisation for Animal Health, or OIE.
But since then, there have been no follow-up reports to the Paris-based veterinary body, and scant coverage of the event in state media...