The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on Tuesday said in the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency, for 190 member states, Korea tops the list of 108 countries that have so far undergone the audit.

Korea got a safety standard compliance rating of 98.82 percent.

In the first evaluation conducted by ICAO in 2000, Korea ranked 53rd with a safety standard compliance rating of 79.79 percent among 162 members. When the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration gave Korea a category 2 rating in 2001, Korea was restricted in code sharing with foreign carriers and banned from increasing flight routes to the U.S., while U.S. soldiers and government officials were prohibited from using Korean air carriers. Korea was given a category 1 rating after a reassessment four months later.

ICAO assesses 190 member countries from 2005 to 2010 on 9,608 safety standards in eight areas. Korea has achieved a compliance rating of 96.35 to 100 percent in each area.

"Until recently, the world's top safety compliance rating was at the 96 percent range and the world's average was 57.77 percent,” said Hong Soon-man, the head of Civil Aviation Safety Authority. “In view of this, even after the ICAO's assessment of all member states is done by 2010, our international safety standard compliance record will not easily be broken."

According to the interim results, Armenia ranked second with 96.32 percent and Canada third with 95.38 percent.

(englishnews@chosun.com )