Temporary Suspension of Importing Chinese Wild Animals Such as Bats, Snakes, and Raccoons into Korea

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The government will temporarily suspend the import of Chinese wild animals that may transmit the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Customs Service announced on the 29th that they will temporarily block the import of Chinese wild animals that may transmit the novel coronavirus.

The animals subject to import prohibition include bats and snakes, which are strongly suspected as intermediate hosts of the virus, as well as badgers, raccoon dogs, and masked palm civets, which were known as intermediate hosts of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The Ministry of Environment plans to strengthen the import permits for bats, snakes, canids such as raccoon dogs, mustelids such as badgers, and viverrids such as masked palm civets by regional and local environmental offices, and to suspend import permits by local governments until the novel coronavirus situation is resolved.

The Korea Customs Service will withhold customs clearance for prohibited animals under the Customs Act, and if there is no permit from the Ministry of Environment, measures such as return shipment will be taken.

The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Customs Service have established a cooperative inspection system since December 30 last year to block the import of ecologically harmful organisms at the customs clearance stage. In addition to Incheon Airport, experts from the National Institute of Ecology under the Ministry of Environment will be dispatched to Incheon Port and Pyeongtaek Port to expand cooperative inspections on imported wild animals.

Minister of Environment Cho Myung-rae stated, "The role of wild animals in disease control has recently increased," and added, "We will devote efforts to managing wild animals to overcome the novel coronavirus infection and also strive to fulfill the role of the National Wildlife Disease Control Center, scheduled to open in Gwangju within this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.