People walk at Myeongdong shopping district in Seoul, South Korea, August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's consumer prices rose in September at a slightly faster pace than market expectations, after a one-off drag in August, government data showed on Thursday.

The consumer price index rose 2.1% in September from a year earlier, after rising by a nine-month low of 1.7% in August. That compared with a 2.0% rise forecast in a Reuters poll.

The index rose 0.5% on a monthly basis, also slightly faster than a 0.4% rise expected by economists. In the previous month, it fell 0.1% on a one-month price discount offered by a major mobile carrier.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Chris Reese)