The Voice of America(VOA) said Thursday that 99 percent of North Korean ships failed to pass safety inspections at ports abroad due to serious deterioration.
 
VOA quoted data from the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region that 293 out of 294 North Korean ships that underwent safety inspections at ports in Asia-Pacific regions last year were found to be substandard. The report cited that only one ship passed the safety tests.
 
The report said North Korea ranks second after Jamaica in terms of the amount of safety defects on ships measured by percent. However, the North is regarded to be operating more under-performing ships than any other country in the world, given that the 44 Jamaican ships inspected for safety last year were one-seventh that of the North.

Cambodia ranked third in terms of having the most safety violations on its ships at Asia-Pacific countries’ ports, followed by Sierra Leone.