SEOUL: South Korea has imposed a ban on imports of French poultry and live birds after the European country reported a bird flu outbreak. The move, announced by South Korea’s agriculture ministry on Thursday, came after the European Commission confirmed that birds at a French chicken farm were infected with H5N1 strain of bird flu. The commission ordered all 32 birds at the farm to be culled and called for close monitoring of neighbouring poultry farms. Seoul’s agriculture ministry suspended imports of all meat products, live birds and even eggs from France, but processed foods treated with heat were not affected.