We start with South Korea's first confirmed case of African swine fever.
We first got word of this a few hours ago.... and it's making waves, as you would expect.
We have our Kim Jae-hee on the line to give us the details.
So Jae-hee, this is a big deal because the authorities here had been moving heaven and earth to try and prevent this happening,... but to no avail...
Yes, Mark. As you said in your headlines, there had been months of quarantine efforts to attempt to stop an outbreak of the highly contagious animal disease.
The first case of African swine fever was detected at around 6:00 PM Monday,... at a pig farm in Paju, northwest of Seoul, near the inter-Korean border.
This comes just four months after first case was reported in the North.
At a press briefing an hour ago by South Korea's agriculture ministry -- a couple of hours after the first reports started coming in -- it was announced that a 48-hour lockdown has been imposed on ALL pig farms across the nation.
The measure aims to prevent any animal, workers or farm equipment being moved to other farms or facilities,...potentially spreading the disease.
The ministry added those already en route to other places must find a temporary place to sit out throughout the duration of the lockdown period.
The ministry also said authorities are undertaking a thorough inspection in a bid to discover the cause of the outbreak, but didn't mention whether any pigs had been culled at the affected farm yet.
Reports say five pigs were found dead at the Paju farm from what was determined to be high fever.
In around a hour from now, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon will also hold an emergency meeting to discuss ways to try and contain the disease.
Since North Korea revealed its own case of African swine fever in late May, the South Korean government designated ten areas near the border as special management zones and launched quarantine measures as part of efforts to prevent the virus entering the South.
African swine fever is a disease highly fatal to pigs, with a near 100 percent mortality rate.
It's highly contagious in pigs and no vaccine currently exists, but it's important to stress that the disease is harmless to humans.
However, what happens next and the damage this could cause South Korea's agriculture and livestock industries remains to be seen.
I will have more updates in our later newscast, Mark,
