South Korea's consumer prices grew at a slower pace last month amid government efforts to keep inflationary pressure down, a report showed Wednesday.

The country's consumer price index rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier in June, compared with a 2.2 percent on-year gain the previous month, according to the report by Statistics Korea.

July's reading marks the first time since July 2009 that inflation stood in the 1-percent range.

The so-called core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, grew at 1.2 percent from the same month last year, which also marks a deceleration from a 1.5 percent increase in June. (Yonhap News)