South Korea Thursday confirmed an additional case of foot-and-mouth disease, despite extensive quarantine efforts to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said a pig farm in the eastern province of Gangwon tested positive for the disease.

All 13,500 animals at the farm in Hongcheon have been ordered culled to prevent the spread of the disease, the ministry said. Livestock within a 500-meter radius of the affected farm have also been ordered slaughtered as a precautionary measure.

An outbreak of the disease first confirmed in North Gyeongsang Province on Nov. 29 has spread to five other South Korean cities and provinces. In the face of the worst outbreak of the disease in the country's history, the government has ordered the culling of over 549,000 animals and vaccination of 227,000 animals at 8,570 farms across the country.

The government on Wednesday raised its alert level for the disease to the highest and set up a central disaster and safety center involving related ministries to curtail the spread of the disease.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet