The two Koreas slipped several notches on this year's Global Peace Index published Wednesday, reflecting escalated regional tensions from North Korea's two deadly attacks against the South last year.
South Korea fell seven places from last year to rank 50th among 153 nations, while North Korea tumbled 10 spots to near the bottom at 149th place, according to the index by the international research body Institute for Economics and Peace.
Out of a total score of 5, where 1 indicates the most peaceful level, South Korea scored 1.829 points, while North Korea scored 3.092 points, the index showed. Each country's score was based on its performance on 23 indicators that make up the Global Peace Index, such as weapons imports and exports, military expenditure, number of conflicts fought and level of violent crime.
North Korea's sharp decline was attributed to increases in the number of homicides and violent crimes, among other factors. The report also cited a tripling in public executions last year to at least 60 cases for offenses that included robbery, people trafficking and the illicit use of Chinese mobile phones.
"Pyongyang's relations with neighboring countries became even more strained in 2010 ... following the administration's decision in March 2010 to sink a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, and to fire missiles at Yeonpyeong in November, one of five South Korean islands in the West (Yellow) Sea, close to North Korea," the report said.
The two attacks killed a total of 50 South Koreans, including two civilians, and sharply raised tensions between the Koreas that remain technically in a state of war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
"North Korea's annual military expenditure was estimated in 2002 to amount to around US$5 billion and it is thought to have increased to around 20 percent of GDP in 2009, by far the largest proportion of the 153 countries surveyed," the report added.
Iceland, New Zealand and Japan were found to be the top three peaceful nations this year, while Somalia came last with a score of 3.379.