S. Korea bans poultry imports from China due to bird flu.

SEOUL, Jan. 28 Kyodo

South Korea said Wednesday it has banned the import of poultry from China after China acknowledged an outbreak of avian influenza Tuesday.

''We were notified of the outbreak of the H5N1 virus in China late Tuesday night, so we imposed an import ban on Chinese chicken and duck products,'' Kim Chang Seob, chief of the livestock quarantine division at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying.

In 2003, South Korea imported 387 tons of chicken meat from China out of a total 82,000 tons imported, according to Yonhap.

South Korea imported 1,843 tons of duck meat from China, about 84% of total imports.

Since the outbreak of bird flu, also confirmed in South Korea, South Korea has prohibited poultry imports from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos and Pakistan.