S. Korea's consumer prices rise 0.8 pct in January

South Korea's consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in January from a year earlier, boosting concerns about deflation as it fell below 1 percent first in three months, a government report showed Tuesday.

The country's headline inflation had hovered below 1 percent for 11 months through October 2015, before rising to 1.0 percent in November and 1.3 percent in December last year, according to Statistics Korea.

The consumer price inflation, however, slipped into the zero-percent range once again in January, refueling worry about deflation that means lowered headline inflation amid economic slump.

The January fall was attributable mainly to higher base effect. As the government raised cigarette prices by about 80 percent from January 2015, it had placed upward pressures on headline inflation for the entire months of last year.

The effect from cigarette price hike disappeared in January this year, dragging down the headline inflation by 0.58 percentage points and reflecting the actual conditions of consumer prices.

Oil product prices tumbled 10.3 percent in January from a year earlier due to lower crude oil prices, pulling down the consumer price inflation by 0.43 percentage points last month.

Service prices, including public utility charges, gained 2.4 percent in January, lifting the inflation by 1.3 percentage points. It marked the fastest monthly increase in about four years. Enditem