S. Korea's consumer prices rise 0.7 percent in June

South Korea's consumer prices rose 0. 7 percent in June from a year earlier, staying in the zero-percent level for seven straight months, a government report showed Wednesday.

Consumer prices gained 0.7 percent in June on a yearly basis, according to Statistics Korea. It was up from a 0.5 percent rise in May, but the figure stayed below 1 percent for seven months in a row.

The low headline inflation boosted worries about deflation risks, or falling consumer prices amid the economic downturn.

Excluding the effect of tobacco price hike, the consumer price inflation was in the front end of the zero percent. The hike in tobacco prices from this year had an effect of raising the headline inflation by 0.58 percentage points.

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural and oil products, increased 2 percent in June on a yearly basis, staying above 2 percent for the sixth consecutive month.

The OECD-method core consumer prices, excluding energy and food prices, advanced 2.2 percent in June from a year ago. Endi