South Korea's consumer prices rise 0.4 pct in April

South Korea's consumer price inflation stayed below 1 percent for five months in a row, boosting worries that the economy may fall into deflation, a government report showed Friday.

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The headline inflation slid below 1 percent in December 2014, keeping a downward trend through April and bolstering concerns about the deflation risk.

Excluding the effect of tobacco price hikes, consumer prices declined for three straight months. Average cigarette prices jumped a whopping 80 percent from this year, raising the headline inflation by 0.58 percentage points.

The April inflation was the lowest since July 1999 when consumer prices inched up 0.3 percent.

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural and oil products, climbed 2 percent in April from a year earlier, staying above 2 percent for the fourth consecutive month.

The OECD-method core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, was 2.3 percent last month on a yearly basis. Endi