South Korea's peace index ranking slipped by five notches last year from a year earlier while Pyongyang's standing rose, narrowing the gap between the two nations, a report showed Wednesday.
According to the report by the World Peace Forum (WPF), South Korea's World Peace Index ranking for 2013 was 47th among 143 countries, down from 42nd a year earlier.
North Korea's ranking was 110th in 2013, up from 117 tallied a year ago.
The Seoul-based non-profit organization has complied the peace index annually since 2000, based on the military, geo-political, social and economic developments in a country.
The WPF said the fall in South Korea's ranking mainly came as a result of heightened inter-Korean military tension and the deterioration in relations between Seoul and Tokyo.
North Korea's ranking rose mainly because leader Kim Jong-un's regime seemed to have settled politically following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011, it said.
The rise in Pyongyang's ranking also came because the number of countries in the low peace group rose, it added.
"The policy priority should be put on enhancing the military-diplomatic peace dimension to improve the peace conditions of two Koreas," the report showed.
According to the report, Germany ranked first on the peace index, followed by Switzerland and the Netherlands. Syria, plagued by civil war, was placed lowest on the peace scale.
Among major countries, the ranking of the United States was 74th last year, down from 67th a year earlier. China came in 105th, up from 112nd in 2012.
Overall, the world became less peaceful last year with a score of 69.6 points, down from 70 points a year ago. The WPF said that the global score has been on the decline since 2010 when it peaked at 71.9 points. (Yonhap)
