SEOUL (REUTERS) - South Korea has detected foot-and-mouth disease in a south-western hog farm, the first such discovery in nine months and a blow to authorities pushing to contain the disease.

The case involved a type of the disease that animals are inoculated against in South Korea, with all 670 hogs at the infected farm in the city of Gimje, about 200 km south-west of Seoul to be slaughtered, said an agriculture ministry official.

Another official at the ministry confirmed the new discovery of foot-and-mouth disease, without giving details.

South Korea struggled to contain the disease after it was discovered in the country in July 2014, intensifying fears about food safety as the nation was also grappling with an outbreak of bird flu. But no new cases had been discovered since April last year.

The outbreak stoked pork imports, mainly from the United States and Germany, with shipments rising nearly 30 per cent to around 423,000 tonnes between January and November last year from a year earlier, according to customs data.