Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Movement of Wild Birds under Surveillance in DPRK

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)

    Pyongyang, March 15 (KCNA) -- March and April are the months in which migratory birds move to Korea from southeast area of China and its surrounding countries. In connection with this, the State Emergency Anti-epidemic Committee (SEAC) has intensified various measures to strictly observe and control movement of wild birds and poultry from March 1.
    Vice Chairman of the SEAC Mun Ung Jo, vice minister of Agriculture, said in an interview with KCNA that bird flu has been rapidly spread to Asia, Europe and Africa and the rest of the world this year, too, doing serious damage to not only poultry but also human beings.
    He further said:
    Bird influenza, in general, is propagated widely by wild birds. The SEAC, therefore, has established a system under which the emergency anti-epidemic committees at all levels carefully survey and immediately inform the movement of migratory birds so as to contain the spread of the bird flu. The posts observing the movement of migrants are now reporting every day the dates when they fly in and out and the abnormal symptoms that occur during their stay and stepping up surveillance including examining dead birds.
    All the poultry has been cooped up so as not to get in touch with wild birds. The chicken farms under the Pyongyang Poultry Guidance Bureau have established a system to report the epidemiological state every day and a strict order of testing suspected chicken flock.
    The People's Committees at all levels across the country are letting not only the workers of hygienic and anti-epidemic and veterinary and anti-epizootic fields but also working people take an active part in the work.