From: "Brian Oliver Sheppard x349393" <bakunin-AT-anarcho.zzn.com>
Subject: AUT: S. Korea wastes more food than N. Korea produces
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 20:04:06 -0500


I'm far from an apologist for North Korea - *far* from it - but I thought
some of you might find this article interesting. Any thoughts? - Brian

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S.Korea Wastes More Food Than North Produces-Study

Mon Mar 4,10:05 AM ET

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Koreans threw away more than four million tons of
food last year, an amount greater than the total staple food production in
North Korea, a Seoul government report published on Monday said.

The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said South Korean
households and restaurants wasted 4.04 million tons of vegetables, fish,
meat and grain while North Korean output of rice, barley and potatoes was
just 3.94 million tons.

South Korea, with twice the population but an economy 30 times bigger than
the communist North, gave North Korea $135.4 million in humanitarian aid
last year. It has sent 100,000 tons of corn this year.

Last week the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said that despite imminent
arrivals of U.S. wheat and South Korean corn, donors have only pledged
around one fourth of the United Nation's targeted food appeal for 2002.

North Korea has suffered severe food shortages since at least 1995 as a
result of natural disasters and economic mismanagement. The country of 23
million plunged into economic crisis after the Soviet Union's collapse
halted aid and subsidized trade.




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