Consumer prices rose over three-and-a-half percent this year from a year earlier.

According to Statistics Korea on Friday, the country's consumer price index stood at 111-point-59 in 2023, up three-point-six percent on-year.

The inflation rate slowed from the five-point-one percent logged in 2022, but is higher than the two-point-five percent recorded in 2021 all of which are well above the trend in the one-percent range from 2016 to 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and zero-point-four percent in 2019.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, rose four percent this year from a year earlier.

Commodity prices also rose four percent on-year, while service prices gained three-point-three percent.

In December, consumer prices rose three-point-two percent on-year to stay in the three-percent range for the fifth consecutive month due to high oil prices.