According to Reuters, citing the official Yonhap Korean news agency, an outbreak of African swine fever was diagnosed on a farm in Gangwon Province on Thursday October 8th. This is the first time in approximately 12-months that authorities have had to cull herds to control ASF. An outbreak in November 2019 resulted in depletion of close to 500,000 hogs housed on 15 farms.
In the absence of a vaccine, biosecurity is the only preventive measure and control involves depletion, quarantine measures and intensified surveillance.
Given that ASF has emerged in South Korea, it is difficult for that nation to ban imports from Germany based on World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines. The source of ASF in South Korea has not been determined but may be associated with the presence of endemic ASF in wild boars near the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. The ASF problem in Germany is confined to wild boars that have strayed from Poland and may by now have infected the German population of feral hogs. There have been no reports of an outbreak in any commercial or backyard hog operation in Germany irrespective of size.