South Korea's consumer prices rise 0.7% in July

 South Korea's consumer prices rose 0. 7 percent in July from a year earlier, keeping the zero-percent increase for eight straight months, a government report showed Tuesday.

The consumer price inflation fell below 1 percent in December 2014 and stayed at the zero-percent level for eight months in a row, according to Statistics Korea.

Core consumer prices, which exclude agricultural and oil products, gained 2 percent on-year in July, staying above 2 percent for the seventh consecutive month.

The OECD-method core prices, excluding food and energy costs, increased 2.5 percent last month, keeping the 2-percent level for the past seven months.

The so-called livelihood prices, which reflect daily necessities, slid 0.1 percent in July from a year earlier, but fresh food prices, which gauge fruits and vegetables, gained 6 percent, keeping an upward trend for the third straight month.

Prices for agricultural, livestock and fisheries products advanced 3.7 percent in July from a year earlier due to the effect of drought, but the farm goods prices slid 0.3 percent compared with the previous month after the shower eased the dry weather last month.