Korea's consumer prices rise 0.7% in December

South Korea's consumer prices rose 0.7 percent on-year in December, marking the fastest growth in six months, the statistics agency said Tuesday.  

The country's inflation also gained 0.2 percent on-month this month on the back of increased prices of agricultural and industrial products, Statistics Korea said in a statement.  

Core inflation, which excludes agricultural and petroleum products, rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier.  

Utility prices were unchanged on-year this month, while prices of agricultural, livestock and fisheries products rose 1.1 percent, the data showed.  

For all of 2019, Korea's consumer prices gained 0.4 percent on-year, marking the slowest growth since 1965, the statistics agency said. (Yonhap)