Mass pig culling in South Korea

Seoul: Thousands of pigs were slaughtered on Sunday by quarantine workers in South Korea in a move to stem the spread of bird flu.

Nearly 4,200 pigs were killed at a farm in Asan, 90 kilometres south of Seoul, where a case of bird flu broke out last week, said Yoon Chang-hee, an official at the South Chungcheong provincial government.

Yoon declined to give a reason for the actions, only saying there was an Agriculture Ministry instruction to cull all pigs within 500 metres of the outbreak site.

Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment, but the Yonhap news agency said pigs are vulnerable to respiratory diseases and could spread viruses.

During November South Korea slaughtered pigs, dogs and 14 unspecified animals within a 3-kilometre radius of the site of two other outbreaks in Iksan.