South Korea's consumer prices rose 1. 4 percent in December from a year earlier, staying at the 1 percent range for two straight months, a government report showed Monday. The December figure was down from a 1.6 percent gain tallied in the previous month, and stayed at the 1 percent level after hovering at the front end of 2 percent in September and October. Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile agricultural and oil product prices, advanced 1.2 percent on-year in December, down from a 1.3 percent rise in the prior month. The OECD-method core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, came in at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in December, unchanged from the previous month.