North Korea has stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of the extremely contagious and deadly African swine fever, a major North Korean state newspaper reported on Wednesday, June 12, breaking the silence about the outbreak, which was first reported in late May.

In late May, North Korea reported an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), but there were no further official reports from Pyongyang.

The North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun reports that on Wednesday, June 12, nationwide preventive measures are being taken to curb the spread of the virus. According to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, "prevention is the key to livestock production."

"Increasing livestock production goes hand in hand with increasing the safety of farm animals from various diseases," Kim said in a newspaper.

According to the newspaper, preventive measures include disinfection of farms and restriction of sales of pork and processed meat.

North Korea grows mainly chickens, ducks and rabbits. According to the Statistics Korea, in 2017, the number of pigs amounted to 2.6 million animals.

So far, no new cases have been reported in North Korea.