South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday that his administration will actively consider local production of vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which has ravaged the country's livestock industry since its first outbreak on Nov. 29 last year.

During his biweekly radio address, Lee said vaccination is the best policy against the spread of FMD. "The United Kingdom and the Netherlands are currently the only countries that produce internationally approved vaccines. But South Korea will actively look into measures of locally producing vaccines," Lee said. "We will be able to prevent recurrence of this kind of serious damage by carrying out vaccination," Lee added.

South Korea has forced to cull more than 2 million livestock, mostly cattle and pigs, in its worst outbreak of the highly contagious animal disease in the history. "The number of FMD-positive cases has greatly declined following the initiation of vaccination. By the end of this month, the first round of vaccination of cattle and pigs will be completed," Lee said. "It is thus expected that the outbreak will be somewhat eased in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year holiday."

He also pointed out that South Korea has become more vulnerable to the disease as more than 20 million people travel in and out of the country each year. More than 8 million people travel between South Korea and Asian nations where FMD constantly occurs.

Lee called on the public to cooperate with quarantine efforts during the Lunar New Year holiday and conveyed gratitude and support for those who will engage in quarantine work during the holidays.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet