South Korea faces three more suspected cases of African swine fever.<br />With five confirmed cases already,… fears are rising within the country that the disease may spread southward.<br />Our Kim Jae-hee has more.<br />Five cases had already been confirmed... when on Wednesday the agriculture ministry reported three more suspected cases.<br />In the morning, it announced a case in Ganghwa County, Incheon.<br />Then, in the hours to come, there was another in Ganghwa and one more in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do Province.<br />If the three new cases are all confirmed, that'll bring the total confirmed cases of African swine fever to eight.<br />The ministry says it plans to inspect pig farms and livestock-related facilities in 154 cities and counties... as it prepares to disinfect them.<br />A 48-hour nationwide standstill has been in place since 12 PM Tuesday... for all pig farms, feed factories and slaughterhouses.<br />The entire province of Gyeonggi-do is now under quarantine... as is the city of Incheon and Gangwon-do Province.<br />Gyeonggi-do also said on Wednesday it will cull almost 40-thousand pigs near a farm in Paju where a case is already confirmed. That'll bring the total number of pigs put down across the country to more than 50-thousand.<br />The Blue House has also launched a separate task force that will get the latest information from agencies and come up with swift response measures.<br />African swine fever is harmless to humans but fatal to pigs,… so its spread could severely damage pork supplies across the country.<br />It's not clear how the disease got into South Korea, but it appeared in North Korea back in May, so the authorities are inspecting inter-Korean waterways.<br />According to South Korea's National Intelligence Service, the pig population of North Korea's Pyeonganbuk-do Province has been wiped out.<br />Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.<br />