South Korea: Government bans import of pollen produced in burn disease-prone areas in China

The government has banned the import of pollen (pollen used to pollinate fire blight host plants) produced in areas where fruit burn disease occurs in China. About two months after the Japanese government imposed a ban at the end of August due to the outbreak of burn disease in China, the Korean government also decided to restrict imports. However, unlike Japan, our quarantine authorities decided to block only the import of pollen produced in areas where burn disease occurs. The Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Quarantine Headquarters announced on the 1st that it would ban the import of pollen from two regions in China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Gansu Province, where burn disease occurred. This is a measure pursuant to Article 11 of the Plant Quarantine Act. The Plant Quarantine Act stipulates that ‘if it is recognized that an emergency situation has occurred in the management of pests, such as the occurrence of regulated pests in a specific region of a foreign ...