Overall consumer prices in South Korea were up 5.2 percent on year in January, Statistics Korea said on Thursday.
That exceeded expectations for an increase of 5.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from the December reading.
On a monthly basis, overall inflation rose 0.8 percent, accelerating from 0.2 percent in the previous month.
Core consumer prices, which exclude the volatile costs of food, rose 4.1 percent on year - unchanged from December.
On a monthly basis, core CPI rose 0.6 percent - up from 0.3 percent a month earlier.
