South Korea's consumer prices grew by more than 1% for the third consecutive month in April, South Korean government data showed Tuesday.

    The country's consumer price index rose 1% last month from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. It is the first time in 17 months that the index has stayed above the 1 % level for three straight months. 

    The figure had remained less than 1% throughout last year except in November and December. Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, increased 1.9% compared with last year, the same increase as a month ago