One additional case of foot-and-mouth disease has been confirmed in South Korea stoking concerns that the animal disease may further spread into the nation, the government said Thursday.

A pig farm in Gochang, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, tested positive for the highly contagious disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

On Tuesday, the animal virus outbreak was confirmed at a swine farm in a nearby region for the first time since April 2015.

The government has raised the alert level from the normal "Blue" to "Yellow," the third-highest readiness, with quarantine officials being sent to the farm to restrict the movement of animals and vehicles.

FMD is a "List A" disease as designated by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health. Countries that report the disease are barred from exporting meat from all cloven-hoofed animals, such as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. (Yonhap)