South Korea is less peaceful than last year, due mainly to domestic political discord, a report showed Monday.

According to the Global Peace Index released by the World Peace Forum, Seoul ranked 51st with 72.9 out of 100 points, down four notches from last year and 10 steps from 2013.

The average of a total of 143 countries recorded 67.4 points, the lowest figure since 2000.

In subrankings, Korea’s local political peace ranking plummeted from 29th to 51st while the military and diplomatic index rose by four steps to 125th. The socioeconomic factor remained unchanged at 23rd.

While the presidential election was stably held in 2012, political discord between parties escalated, and ties with North Korea and Japan have not improved, the World Peace Forum said.

The 15th annual ranking analyzes the overall peace statuses of 143 countries based on various factors including local politics, military, diplomacy and socioeconomic level.

Germany has remained at the top for three consecutive years with 89.6 points. Maintaining stable social and economic conditions contributed to the ranking, the report said.

Iceland, Canada and Sweden followed with 89.5, 89.4 and 88.9 points, respectively.

The U.S. ranked No. 70 with 69.2 points. It ranked low due mainly to military and diplomatic issues in the Middle East and antiterrorism measures, as well as social factors such as shooting rampages and the widening economic gap, it added.

China rose by two spots to rank at No. 103 with 61 points.

North Korea was ranked 114th, down four spots. Although a number of political figures were reported to have been purged, there have been no political conflicts exposed to the outside, putting the local political stability at 66th. The lack of military and diplomatic peace contributed to the low total point total, the report added.

The Republic of South Sudan was picked as the least peaceful country with just 20 points, due to its continuing clash with Sudan.

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)