The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has determined that a recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in North Korea has spread fast, infecting four cows near the border with South Korea, a U.S. radio report said Friday.

North Korea reported the latest outbreak of FMD to the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health in early January. The country's media later reported that 360 pigs had died from the disease and some 2,900 had been culled as a preventive measure to stop it from spreading.

FMD is an infectious and sometimes fatal disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as pigs, cattle, deer and sheep.

Following a request from the North, the U.N. body sent a team of experts to assess the situation in the country earlier this month.

The FAO told a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday that the experts found four cows that had been infected with FMD on a farm in the eastern Kangwon Province, near the border with South Korea, according to the Voice of America.

The U.N. body said it plans to provide various forms of assistance to the North, including FMD checks, supply of preventive measures and training for relevant authorities. (Yonhap)