SEOUL South Korea wasted more food last year than the total amount of food consumed by North Korea, according to a government survey. The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said that 4.05 million tons of food worth eight trillion won ($6.07 billion) was wasted in 2001 by the population of about 48 million. During the same year, the North's estimated population of 22.17 million consumed 3.95 million tons of food. With only 56 percent of the waste recycled, the South Korean government has called for a campaign to reduce food waste, which cost 400 billion won last year to dump and burn. Restaurants would be given cash incentives if they cut back on the amount of food thrown away. Vegetables made up 53 percent (2.14 million tons) of the waste, followed by fish and meat at 1.17 million tons and grain at 526,000 tons. Householders were the biggest wasters. Koreans love to lay on lavish meals with several side dishes to entertain guests and for special days. Yet South Korea imports eight trillion won worth of food annually with only 30 percent of consumption produced in the country. Dumping and burning food waste costs about 400 billion won. The North's main food, meanwhile, included rice, barley, potatoes and sweet potatoes with nearly no side dishes, the ministry said. The survey followed an warning last week by the World Food Program (WFP) that food aid to the famine-hit North could run out by the summer. Tiny North Korean government food rations could be reduced within weeks, the UN agency said. Despite improved crops last year more than a third of the population still relies on international handouts for food, AFP reported. "The situation is precarious and any kind of break in the (food) pipeline could have very, very serious consequences," said Gerald Bourke, a WFP spokesman. He said international aid to Afghanistan had diverted resources in North Korea where up to two million people are said to have died from starvation and related disease since 1995. Out of the 611,202 tons of food aid WFP requested to help feed the 6.4 million North Koreans targeted as most vulnerable, the agency has thus far received pledges for only 155,000 tons.