S. Korea's consumer prices up 2 pct in May

SEJONG, June 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's consumer prices continued their upbeat mode to touch the 2 percent level in May on high-flying oil and livestock prices, government data showed Thursday.

The country's consumer price index gained 2 percent last month from a year earlier, slightly up from the previous month's 1.9 percent rise, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

Consumer prices have been hovering around 2 percent since the first month of 2017 due to a sharp gain in oil prices, following a 1.3 percent on-year gain in December last year.

From a month earlier, the index edged up 0.1 percent in May.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, increased 1.5 percent in May compared with last year.

brk@yna.co.kr
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