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On 17 September 2019, the first outbreak of African swine fever in a pig farm was confirmed in South Korea. By 9 October, 14 outbreaks of ASF in domestic pigs had been diagnosed in 4 cities/counties. We isolated viruses from all infected farms and performed genetic characterization. The phylogenetic analysis showed that all of fourteen ASFV isolates in South Korea belong to genotype II and serogroup 8. Additionally, all isolates had an intergenic region (IGR) II variant with additional tandem repeat sequences (TRSs) between the I73R and I329L genes and showed characteristics of central variable region (CVR) 1 of the B602L gene and IGR 1 of MGF 505 9R/10R genes. These are identical to the genetic characteristics of some European isolates and Chinese isolates.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious transboundary disease of domestic and wild cloven-hoofed animals. FMD is associated with considerable economic losses due to decreased animal productivity and disease-associated restrictions on international trade in animal and animal products (Jamal & Belsham, 2013; World Organisation for Animal Heath (OIE), 2017). FMD virus (FMDV) belongs to the genus Aphthovirus within the family Picornaviridae and has been classified into seven genetically and immunologically distinct serotypes, including O, A, C, Southern African Territories (SAT) 1, SAT 2, SAT 3 and Asia 1; these serotypes have undergone further diversification into multiple topotypes and genetic lineages (Knowles & Samuel, 2003). The genetic and immunological diversity of this virus has been recognized as a great challenge with respect to efforts to diagnose and to prevent this disease.

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