South Korea on Monday decided to expand areas where vaccination will be administered in the face of the country's severest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), the government said.

Agriculture Minister Yoo Jeong-bok said in a news briefing that vaccines will be given to all animals in Gyeonggi Province surrounding Seoul and large parts of Chungcheong and Gangwon provinces.

"We are planning to preemptively expand vaccination to areas that have been hit by FMD and are feared for further spread of the disease, as well as areas surrounding the affected regions, to contain the spread of the disease," said Yoo. The highly contagious animal disease has spread across six cities and provinces so far after its first outbreak in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province on Nov. 29. The latest decision comes after the government said on Dec. 22 that it will carry out limited vaccination on cattle to battle the animal disease despite the risk of a long export ban by overseas buyers. About 668,220 cattle, pigs and other cloven-hoofed animals have been slaughtered in the country's worst outbreak of the disease. More than 500,000 livestock are slated to receive vaccines although the numbers may climb in the coming days. South Korea was struck by the disease in 2000, 2002 and two more times early last year.