SK Agriculture minister offers to resign following FMD crisis
Taking responsibility for slack monitoring against South Korea’s worst outbreak of Foot and mouth disease (FMD), Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Yoo Jeong-bok offered to step down from his post.
“I will do my best to put an end to this crisis as soon as possible and resign after clearing up the situation,” Yoo said at an urgently called media conference yesterday. “As minister, I will take all responsibility for the current outbreak and I will fulfill my duty as a public servant until the last day.”
The offer to resign was put forward last friday. The Blue House did not issue any official response to Yoo’s offer to resign.
Since the outbreak was reported on Nov. 23 in Andong, North Gyeongsang, the government has been forced to cull nearly 3 million farm animals over the past two months, costing about 1.4 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in compensation to farmers.
According to the government, more than 2.63 million pigs and nearly 144,600 cows were killed.
According to the government, more than 2.63 million pigs and nearly 144,600 cows were killed.
