South Korea

South Korea Raises African Swine Fever Alert After Outbreak at Pig Farm

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 14:38:03 GMT

South Korea said on Tuesday there had been an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) at a pig farm in the country’s largest pig-breeding region, prompting authorities to raise the national alert level to “serious”.

Some 1,423 pigs were culled due to the outbreak at a farm in Dangjin, South Chungcheong province, and authorities were closely monitoring for further infections at around 140 related farms, South Korea’s Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry had also issued a 48-hour “standstill” order for all pig farms and other livestock facilities in the country to curb the risk of further spread.

It was the sixth isolated outbreak of ASF in South Korea this year, but the first time in South Chungcheong, which is the largest pig farm region in the country and an area that had not seen a previous outbreak, the ministry said.

The ministry ordered all resources available to be mobilized to prevent the spread of ASF.

(Reporting by Joyce LeeEditing by Ed Davies)

Late-Night Bacon Runs: Why South Korea is a Country to Watch

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:41:22 GMT

It’s 10 p.m. You open the refrigerator to find you are out of milk and bacon. How can you have breakfast without that pair? Now imagine the fastest “Amazon fulfillment center” processing your order overnight and delivering a carton of milk and pound of bacon to your doorstop by 6 a.m. the next morning.

“That may seem unachievable in the U.S., but that’s happening in South Korea with fresh products, in addition to chilled and frozen pork and beef,” says Josh Maschhoff, Illinois Pork Producers Association president and sixth-generation pork farmer. Maschhoff was part of the 21-member delegation made up of U.S. corn, soybean, beef and pork farmers visiting South Korea with the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) advocating about U.S. agriculture and trade.

(USMEF)

Maschhoff says it’s time to open our eyes as a country to the possibility of these conveniences.

Full of Opportunity
South Korea is comparable to the size of state of Indiana, Maschhoff describes. Just picture that size of a region with 43 million more people in it.

“It’s dense,” he says. “It’s a lot of high-rise buildings, urban populations, and not a lot of opportunity to travel. Convenience is really important in their lives.”

In addition to convenience, Andy Tauer, vice president of international market development at the National Pork Board, says flavor is just as important priority for the consumers in South Korea.

“Flavor profile is huge,” Tauer says. “Pork brings the flavor to the table already, but then they add a little bit of Korean spice to it once it gets here. There is a lot of opportunity for further development of some additional U.S. pork products here in this marketplace.”

The aging population of the South Korean consumer was eye opening to Maschhoff.

“We have to figure out how to adapt our product and work with the retailers and the brokers here to market to those specific demographics,” Maschhoff says. “A common trend in Korea is the uptick of home meal replacement, where they can get a prepackaged product that contains meat and vegetables and could even be seasoned or precooked.”

Home meal replacement is popular in South Korean grocery stores.

(USMEF)

He says that is one example of matching convenience and the need to create products that South Korean customers value.

Jay Theiler, executive vice president for corporate affairs at Agri-Beef and USMEF chair elect, says he appreciates the value USMEF brings in trying to figure out how to market beef in new ways that can bring more value to producers.

“One example is really thin slicing of products for things like shabu-shabu,” Theiler says. “The trip also opened my eyes to markets for cuts we don’t use in the states, like tendons in soup. It’s so diverse the way the products are consumed here. That’s where the whole puzzle works. When you could get the different pieces and parts going to the right markets and create more value for us as producers.”

Sparse Shelves
It’s not as easy as “ship it and they will buy,” but Maschhoff says the shelves were a little sparse when it came time to find U.S. pork in the stores.

“The good side about that is it’s sparse because two weeks ago, the shelves were stacked and it flew off the shelves,” he says. “The U.S. is challenged in the current market, with Canada and a few others being able to come in here with a little cheaper price, and they’re filling more of the case right now, but that’s a small hurdle.”

Another challenge is connecting South Korean customers with packers and distributors to get them the product that they need in the specifics that they’d like to see it.

Cattlemen’s Beef Board Chair Ryan Moorhouse (left) and Nebraska beef producer Keith Kreikemeier check out the beef selection in Costco in Seoul.

(USMEF)

“Belly is the No. 1 pork product they import, and if we think about how popular bacon is in our domestic market, we’re limited in our opportunity,” Tauer points out. “But to their credit, they’re making bacon out of Boston Butt and some picnic bacon. They’re finding opportunities to continue to utilize that that U.S. pork product to deliver what the consumers are demanding here in South Korea.”

Ryan Moorhouse, Cattlemen’s Beef Board chair, expects beef demand in Korea to continue to grow.

“If you look at the amount of American beef that Korea has taken, it’s kind of straight up for the last 10 years,” Moorhouse says. “They like our product. They like American products in general. It’s a very competitive market, but it’s also a market where they eat a ton of protein. I think they’ll continue to eat more and more protein with the population that they have.”

Culture Connection
In addition to better understanding market opportunities, Tauer says these trips help U.S. farmers better understand international customers. They are a great way to form valuable relationships that could open doors in Asian markets.

(l to r) Josh Maschhoff and Andy Tauer listen to a presentation at Highland Foods, one of the South Korea’s largest importers of U.S. beef and pork, during their trip to learn about opportunities for U.S. red meat.

(USMEF)

“Being able to bring our U.S. producers over here so they can meet processors, retailers and give that story firsthand is key,” Tauer says. “For example, Josh gave a presentation to about 100 or so buyers in Korea about the sustainability efforts that not only he and his family are doing on their farm, but across the entire pork spectrum. As we’ve traveled around South Korea, we’ve seen a lot of sustainable labeling and animal welfare labeling. Being able to put that personal connection to their priorities is really important and helps continue to build that confidence and preference for U.S. pork.”

Maschhoff’s first trip to Asia, he was impressed with the politeness of the Korean culture.

“They have really aligned with the U.S. and depend on us to supply them with products they can’t supply on their own,” he says. “It makes you feel grateful that you can do that for them, and it’s something we take great pride in, being able to provide food for other people.”

It also reminded him of the importance of farmers telling their story and thinking more deeply about what the consumer (domestic and international) wants to buy.

“Dollar for dollar, as a pork producer or a beef producer, our checkoff dollars are well spent when investing in promotion with USMEF because we get that match with USDA funding. It goes a long way with helping to bridge the cultural gap and trying to innovate and think about different ways we can put our product on an international plate in a way that makes those consumers really appreciate it,” Maschhoff says. “Rather than us trying to push product to them, it’s letting them pull it from us in a way that they’d like to see it.”

Tauer hopes producers see the value that the international component brings to the overall pork cutout.

U.S. pork sampling sponsored by USMEF at Costco in Seoul.

(USMEF)

“As we think about some of these markets and the different products they want and desire from the U.S., these aren’t products that our domestic consumers are going to eat on a daily basis, or ever, quite frankly,” Tauer says. “Don’t forget that $64 to $66 is what the international market adds to the overall pork (carcass) value.”

Future Food Fulfillment
Maschhoff is the first to admit he “geeked out” a little at the technology in that fulfillment center in South Korea – that’s his engineering background coming through. But he says it’s more than that.

“Tasting what pork can do is not just about the quality or the versatility, but it’s about us trying to figure out how to make that convenient,” he says. “The fulfillment center concepts just make me hungry for why we need to go try to execute that same sort of a model in the domestic market. I think there’s a wealth of opportunity that we have not tapped yet. It’s easy to say, ‘Ah well, American consumers wouldn’t see that as something.’ But I think we need to keep an open mind and learn from other countries.”

Listen to more about the trip on AgriTalk with Chip Flory.

President Trump Threatens New Round of Tariffs Over the Weekend: Here’s the Latest

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:39:37 GMT

U.S. commodity markets were down to start the week in Sunday night trade as the markets digested the latest tariff announcement by President Donald Trump. On Saturday, President Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on Mexico and the European Union starting on August 1. The announcement came after a string of new tariff threats last week, as the Trump administration’s deadline for trade deals came due.

On Monday, President Trump continued with tariff talk, saying he would implement “severe tariffs” on Russia unless a peace deal is reached with Ukraine within 50 days.

He provided few details on how they would be implemented but described them as 100% secondary tariffs, meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.

The latest tariff threats weren’t good news for farmers looking to price fertilizer for fall, as StoneX Group says Russia is the United States’ top destination for both urea and UAN imports. StoneX points out Russia’s market chair has “grown substantially in recent years.”

Monday’s news follows a week where many anticipated trade deals. Instead, President Trump made a series of announcements with new tariffs. The new tariffs on Mexico and the European Union, which Trump announced Saturday, capped off a week of sweeping tariff threats.

Earlier in the week, Trump warned of a possible:

50% tariff on all copper imports
50% tariff on all goods from Brazil
35% tariff on Canadian goods
25% tariff on goods from Japan
25% tariff on imports from South Korea
200% tariff on imported pharmaceuticals

The positive side of the announcements is the Trump administration says any products covered under the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (UMCA) won’t face the new tariffs.

President Trump also sent letters to both Japan and South Korea last week, saying their goods will be taxed at 25% starting August 1st.

The President posted the two letters he sent to those countries’ leaders on his Truth Social site. In the letter to South Korea, he stated when it comes to Korea’s tariff and non-tariff polices and trade barriers, the relationship between the two countries has been far from reciprocal. He added the 25% tariff was far less than what he says is needed to eliminate a trade deficit disparity.

The letter to Japan added if Japanese companies decide to build or manufacture a product within the U.S., there will be no tariffs. Japanese and U.S. negotiators have been working for several weeks to try and reach a deal.

Lack of Progress Impacts Commodity Prices
The lack of trade announcements last week was just one factor that caused corn prices to tank, according to AgMarket.net’s Matt Bennett. While rain in the upper Corn Belt was also bearish for the markets, little to no movement on trade is also pressuring prices.

“We had no trade announcements, and then we continued to talk about tariffs. The unfortunate reality right now is it appears the administration is playing the long game, trying to get people to come to the table with better trade deals than what we currently have seen. But it certainly isn’t doing any favors for the corn market,” Bennett said on U.S. Farm Report this weekend. “I think something like a big trade agreement certainly could tilt the tide more in the favor of the corn market moving higher. Until you get that, with weather being as good as what it is, there’s nothing there.”

It’s not all bearish, though. Arlan Suderman of StoneX Group says the 50% tariff on Brazil is actually bullish for beef.

“We already have a shortage of protein in America with the cattle herd being shrinking over recent years because of lingering drought in the western half of the country, and supplies are tight. We’re just getting to the point of trying to rebuild those supplies, which holding back heifers, tightens up the supply of meat even more. We’re feeding to record-high carcass weights to try to fill the void. We’re increasing imports to record levels. Brazil is the primary supplier of those imports: 27% of our imports come from Brazil in the first five months of the year, according to the latest data we have available, that’s 666 million pounds. That’s 4% of consumption,” Suderman says.

If you think 4% doesn’t sound like a big deal, Suderman says it is - especially considering meat demand in the U.S. has turned out to be inelastic.

“We’ve been shifting from a starch-based diet more heavily toward protein-based. And as the prices go up, we’re actually increasing demand for beef and the other proteins - but we don’t have the supply of it. I think that could be a real problem going forward for the meat industry and the meat supply. We will have to find somewhere else to get that meat,” Suderman says.

Are Trade Deals Close?

While President Trump initially stated he had reached trade agreements with 200 countries, only a few have been officially announced. These include deals with China, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, however. Negotiations with other countries are ongoing, with the administration extending the deadline for tariff-related negotiations to August 1.

The European Union says it was working on sealing a trade deal with the U.S. by the end of this month, and the European Commission president says the EU was working closely with the Trump administration to reach a deal.

South Korea Increases Efforts to Prevent African Swine Fever as Air Travel Ramps Up

Tue, 17 May 2022 14:45:20 GMT

South Korea plans to increase quarantine efforts at major airports and harbors to prevent the deadly African swine fever (ASF) virus and other contagious foreign animal diseases from entering the country.

The move comes as the number of international flights is set to increase further starting next month when the country plans to add hundreds of new flights to meet the growing demand for travel as COVID-19 restrictions relax, Yonhap News Agency reports.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs explained that it will beef up the quarantine system at eight airports and six harbors, including those in the western port city of Incheon, Gimpo in Seoul, and the southern resort island of Jeju. The ministry will conduct on-site inspections and training this month to implement quarantine procedures.

The ministry is also focusing its campaign to prevent foreign workers, international students and other immigrants from bringing in banned or unregistered agricultural and livestock products. Failure to comply with these regulations will result in a maximum fine of 10 million won (US$7,821), Yonhap News Agency reports.

The agricultural ministry in South Korea asks people to refrain from visiting farms in foreign nations and bringing in food and other livestock products.

With around 300 cases so far this year, South Korea is showing some signs of ASF letting up in recent weeks.

Although ASF does not affect humans or food safety, it is deadly to pigs. No vaccine or cure for the disease is commercially available.

More from Farm Journal’s PORK:

If This, Then What? Producers Get Hands-On FAD Response Practice

Report Distorts Truth About Worker Safety During Pandemic, Meat Institute Says

Italy to Hold Boar Cull Around Rome to Stem African Swine Fever

Extreme Growth Potential with Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for U.S. Red Meat Exports

Mon, 25 Apr 2022 19:43:20 GMT

Trade talks with key trading partners on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework are gearing up, and U.S. Meat Export Federation’s assistant vice president of export services Travis Arp has more details on how this might impact U.S. red meat exports.

“Looking at issues like science-based trade, good regulatory practices and transparency with regulations and things that can really open more opportunities for U.S. exporters in a multiple group of sectors,” Arp says will be on the agenda.

Submitting comments on the ‘resilient trade pillar’ of the framework, USMEF explains the economic impacts of the region’s trades.

“In 2021, Japan and South Korea were the largest volume and value markets for U.S. beef, importing a total of 320,737 and 280,143 metric tons (MT) of U.S. beef, respectively; valued at $2.376 billion and $2.382 billion, respectively,” the comments explained. “2021 U.S. pork exports to Japan and Korea were valued at $1.693 billion and $556 million, respectively, making Japan and Korea the second and fifth largest value markets for U.S. pork.”

USMEF’s comments explained that the value of U.S. beef exports to the region increased by 22% from 2020 to 2021, with a 65% in Indonesia alone. Meanwhile, U.S. pork export values increased by 26%, with a 78% increase in the Philippines alone. These statistics show extreme growth when considering the U.S. market share in these areas are relatively low.

As the economic framework is still under construction, Arp believes the goal is to strengthen trade relations with allies in Asia, seeing the region as an opportunity to improve market access and open these markets to U.S. exporters.

“There’s an opportunity to address some of these systemic barriers to trade,” Arp says. “Gaining more beef access into markets, like Korea, and creating more opportunities for plants to get approved in markets like Malaysia and Indonesia, then this could potentially pose a significant boost to red meat exports in the future.”

Other framework details include promoting science-based trade rules, establishing regionalization agreements in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak, such as African swine fever , and tariffs, quotas and import licenses.

Read USMEF’s full comment detail here .

South Korea Reports African Swine Fever on Large Commercial Pig Farm

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 15:26:38 GMT

A South Korea pig farm with 2,400 pigs confirmed an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) on Sunday. The country is on high alert to contain the spread of this deadly virus just three months after the latest confirmed case on May 4.

According to the Korea Herald , the government-led ASF task force announced that the ASF case was confirmed at a domesticated pig farm in Goseong-gun, Gangwon Province. This farm is the only pig farm in a three-kilometer radius. There are two other farms with a combined 3,100 pigs in a 10-kilometer radius.

To date, South Korea has confirmed 18 cases of ASF at local pig farms since the outbreak started in September 2019. Authorities culled more than 450,000 farmed pigs culled across 14 pig farms in the first 30 days. Counting wild boars, ASF has been confirmed in a total of 1,517 cases.

There is no vaccine for ASF. This virus has a fatality rate of nearly 100% for infected animals. It does not pose a risk to humans or food safety.

“Officials believe the latest resurgence came as young boars born in the spring became more active in summer months. The virus is active across Europe and Asia, and it was also found to have spread to South America in recent months,” the article said.

The task force ordered all pigs in the Goseong-gun farm to be culled and is carrying out disinfection efforts in nearby areas, the Korea Herald reports. Domesticated pigs in Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province are under a stop movement order from 6 a.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Tuesday.

The Ministry of Environment told the Korea Herald it would strengthen its search for wild boars and their dead carcasses while installing more fences to prevent movements of wild boars that are suspected of causing recent outbreaks.

Stay up to date on the latest ASF News .

Read more from Farm Journal’s PORK:

Do You Know the Signs of African Swine Fever?

Feds Issue New Rules for Importing Dogs from ASF-Positive Countries

Pork Industry Focuses on Keeping African Swine Fever Out of the U.S.

Food: A Serious Quest at Olympics

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:49:14 GMT

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — First, U.S. snowboarding star Chloe Kim tweeted about being “down for some ice cream” while competing in Pyeongchang, then about being “hangry” because she hadn’t finished her breakfast sandwich.

Clearly, food is a big deal for Olympians, and it’s usually much more complicated than ice cream and sandwiches: the very specific, highly calibrated fuel they put in their bodies — for energy, for health, for warmth, for a psychological and physiological edge — is an important part of what makes them excel.

Korean food is some of the world’s finest — savory, salty soups with fish so tender it falls off the bone; thick slabs of grilled pork and beef backed with spicy kimchi that many Korean grandmothers swear cures the common cold. But it’s very different from what many foreign Olympians are used to.

“What I recommend for athletes right now in competition mode is to be as safe as possible. This might happen once in a lifetime; you don’t want to blow it with just having an upset stomach because you’ve eaten something that’s different to what your body’s used to,” Susie Parker-Simmons, a sports dietitian for the U.S. Olympic Committee in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said in an interview in Pyeongchang. “I say, as soon as the games is over, go at it; enjoy, be adventurous.”

FEEDING THE ATHLETES

The U.S. team has its own chefs and dietitians, as well as two “nutrition centers” here. And then there’s the food at two athletes villages, where nearly 3,000 athletes from 90 different countries — most of whom strictly follow unique food routines — get fed.

The goal is to provide lots of everything.

The two villages each have massive, 43,055-square-foot dining rooms where nearly 500 chefs and cooking assistants provide a combined 18,000 meals per day. Each dining room is open 24 hours a day and offers about 450 different types of food in buffets that include Western, Asian, Korean, Halal, Kosher, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, David Kihyun Kwak, the director of food and beverage at the Pyeongchang Olympics, said in an interview.

To determine what to serve at Pyeongchang, Kwak’s team analyzed food data for the past five Olympics and also worked closely with other nations’ nutrition specialists.

The amount of raw ingredients used each day to feed the athletes is staggering: 1,540 pounds of beef, 992 pounds of eggs, 771 pounds of lamb, 440 pounds of bacon, 374 pounds of chicken, 220 pounds of rice, 7,495 pounds of fruits and vegetables, about 15,000 pieces of bread and 800 pizzas.

FOOD SAFETY

Most Olympic athletes don’t eat outside of the villages because of worries about the purity of ingredients, Kwak said. The United States did tests before the 2008 Beijing Olympics that found some local chicken contained enough steroids to trigger positive test results.

Experts examine ingredients closely for possible contamination that could threaten athletes’ health or disrupt doping tests. South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has sent more than a dozen food safety specialists to take ingredients samples to buses equipped with fast-testing laboratories to look for potential problems before the food even gets eaten.

HOME COOKING

Finland’s Riikka Valila, the oldest women’s ice hockey player in Olympic history at 44, likes the food options here but misses the “really good bread” back in Finland. She said some of her teammates on gluten-free diets have brought food from home.

The Americans shipped over 85 pallets, each about 6 feet tall and 3 feet deep and wide, filled with pastas, sauces, peanut butter, grains and plants like quinoa, and spices, Parker-Simmons said.

There’s food meant to help with performance and recovery, but there’s also “psychological food,” which Parker-Simmons explains like this: Say an athlete training her whole life for the Olympics fails. She takes it hard; she stops eating. This is when the dietitians will turn to something special — a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, maybe, or Cheez-Its.

Vincent Zhou, a U.S. figure skater, said he needs a lot of carbs, “before, between and after sessions,” to fend off fatigue. “It hasn’t been very difficult finding comfort food,” he said.

EATING FOR PERFORMANCE

The work to optimize nutrition can seem as thorough as the work to perfect the sports skills.

Dietitians have to regularly test cross-country skiers, for instance, who have the highest energy expenditure of any sport in the world, Parker-Simmons said. An average-sized woman will need 4,000 calories or more per day to train and compete; a typical man needs about 7,000 calories, she said. Ski jumpers, on the other hand, sometimes have to drop 10 kilograms below their natural body weight, while keeping up their muscle mass and energy.

FANS SPLIT ON KOREAN FOOD

Foreign fans, of course, have their own food worries and routines.

South Korean officials have tried to provide menus in English and other languages to thousands of local restaurants. And the Korea Tourist Organization has published a brochure, complete with a hotline in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, that outlines “must eat” dishes and where to find them.

Some tourists embrace the exotic.

“I was impressed with the little fish, the eyes and everything,” Julie Thibaudeau, 53, from Quebec, said as she celebrated her son’s gold medal in mogul skiing in a local Pyeongchang restaurant. “I tried, and it was salty, but it was good. And after that I had a good glass of ... beer.”

Others play it safe. Very safe.

“We found Papa John’s (pizza) today, which was literally life-changing because ... we haven’t eaten a lot for the last few days,” Rachel Basford, 31, a teacher in Shanghai who’s from Kent, England, said while drinking in a fried chicken restaurant. “I’m not that adventurous when it comes to trying local foods. I just like to eat British food in various places around the world.”

Asked if she planned to try Korean food she said, with a laugh: “No. Absolutely not. We’re going to Seoul tomorrow so there’s the McDonald’s at Seoul Station, so that should be good.”

WILLPOWER IN THE DINING HALL

For the athletes, sheer abundance can be a danger.

When U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon got to Pyeongchang a coach told him about the last Winter Games in Sochi, when one of her athletes became very excited about all the food available even as his performance in training tanked.

The coach finally understood what was happening when the athlete donned his costume for the short program: “He’d been in the cafeteria the whole time; he’d gained seven pounds before the competition,” Rippon said with a laugh. “And my coach is sitting next to me, and he was like, ‘ha, ha, ha, ha,’ and he turned to me and said, ‘You’d better not get fat while you’re here.’”

Chloe Kim, by the way, finally got her ice cream — and a gold medal. She could be seen eating her treat while being swarmed by reporters.

Copyright, The Associated Press

Ag Remains Unchanged In KORUS Renegotiation

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:10:43 GMT

Representatives from the U.S. and South Korea have reached an agreement to modify the United States-Republic of Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), as announced from the White House on Wednesday.

“The improved KORUS agreement reflects the President’s leadership in delivering more reciprocal trade outcomes benefiting U.S. workers, exporters, and businesses. – USTR Robert Lighthizer. More information about the agreement here: https://t.co/5RzgFgEgLi
— USTR (@USTradeRep45) March 28, 2018

South Korea is agreeing to reduce its steel exports by 30 percent and to double its import quota for U.S. cars, exempting them from steel tariffs.

Agriculture has been left out of the agreement, and the trade pact has been beneficial to this sector.

According to the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), red meat exports to Korea topped $1.7 billion, almost double that of 2012 numbers. The U.S. is the largest beef supplier to Korea and the country’s second largest supplier of pork.

These impressive gains are causing some farmers and ranchers to worry as the administration takes a hard line on trade.

“The American farmer and rancher has done such an unbelievable job at producing food, not only for us, but the world, that we really count on exports, [particularly] the beef industry,” said

Talks to modify the 2012 bilateral trade pact have been happening since January.