Korean quarantine authorities vowed Thursday to beef up their preventive measures against foot-and-mouth disease amid concerns over the government’s quarantine management.

In an emergency meeting of the Agriculture Ministry and the ruling Saenuri Party, the ministry said it would raise the vaccination rate from 70 percent to 100 percent for all livestock and toughen the monitoring system in municipalities. The government also suggested that it would create an early alert system as part of the efforts to prevent the spread of the disease.

“The quarantine officials should thoroughly carry out the vaccination process and make sure that there no loopholes in the disinfection measures,” Saenuri Party spokesperson Rep. Park Dae-chul said.

As of Thursday afternoon, more than 28,000 livestock at 38 farms in the country had been slaughtered since the outbreak was discovered on Dec. 3.

Earlier in the day, three vaccinated pigs at a farm in Sejong City, were confirmed to have been infected with the illness, the Agriculture Ministry said. This was the first case detected in the administrative city.

While culling the pigs, the quarantine authorities limited the travel of farm animals to within 3 kilometers of the concerned site. The farm is located 19 kilometers from another farm in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, where foot-and-mouth disease was discovered on Jan. 1.

Dozens of pigs at four farms in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, were also suspected of being infected with the animal disease. The farms are situated only 3 kilometers away from a farm where a cow tested positive for the illness on Jan. 6.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)