South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in three years in August, raising concerns that inflationary pressure is building up despite the government's anti-inflation efforts, a report showed Thursday.

   According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 5.3 percent last month from a year earlier, quickening from the previous month's 4.7 percent gain.

   The figure is the largest growth since August of 2008 when prices rose 5.6 percent. It is also the eighth straight month that the consumer price hike has surpassed the government's annual inflation target of 4 percent for this year.

   Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food costs, also jumped 4 percent from a year earlier, the largest gain in 28 months. It was up from 3.8 percent tallied for July, the report showed.

Source: Yonhap News (Sept 1, 2011)