South Korea's consumer prices rose 1. 2 percent in August from a year earlier, staying in the 1 percent level for two straight months, a report by the statistical agency showed Monday. Consumer prices advanced 1.2 percent in August from a year before, down from a 1.5 percent on-year gain tallied in the previous month, according to Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, the prices were up 0.4 percent. Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural and oil product prices, rose 1.3 percent on-year in August, up from a 1.2 percent on-year advance in the previous month. The OECD-method core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, gained 1.2 percent last month, staying unchanged from a 1.2 percent on-year increase in July.