South Korea said Tuesday it has found nine more wild boars infected with African swine fever in areas near the border with North Korea, bringing the total number of cases to 430.

Eight corpses were found in different areas near the border in Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, according to the National Institute of Environmental Research under the Ministry of Environment.

Another boar tested positive after being caught in a trap.

South Korea confirmed its first-ever outbreak of the animal disease in September last year. Local authorities have culled about 400,000 domestic pigs as part of preventive measures.

Although no additional ASF cases on farms have been reported since early October 2019, authorities continue to discover dead wild boars carrying the disease, mostly along the inter-Korean border.

So far, all confirmed cases among both domestic and wild pigs have been reported in border areas. Pyongyang reported its first outbreak of ASF at a pig farm near its border with China in May last year. (Yonhap)