The nation’s peace index ranking has slipped five notches to 47th in the world.
 
The Seoul-based World Peace Forum issued its World Peace Index report in a news release on Wednesday, assessing the level of world peace in 143 countries by January 1, 2014. The index analyzes the countries’ politics, military, diplomacy, society and economy.
 
Germany topped the list followed by Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Iceland.
 
The forum said South Korea saw its ranking slip after it posted low scores in politics and military-diplomatic peace.
 
North Korea, meanwhile, saw its ranking jump seven notches to 110th.
 
The forum said the North’s ranking grew not because its conditions have improved but because of the increase in the number of countries that ranked at the bottom of the peace index list.
 
The World Peace Forum, which was established in 2000, publishes the World Peace Index annually.