South Korea’s consumer prices rose 1.7% in August from a year earlier, the slowest pace in nine months, finance ministry data showed Tuesday. The slowdown was driven largely by a temporary 50% rebate on mobile phone bills issued by SK Telecom to over 20 million users. The company’s rebate followed a high-profile data breach that went undetected for years and drew intense domestic criticism and international concern over Seoul’s cyber security governance. The resulting 21% year-on-year drop in telecom charges led to a 3.6% fall in public service prices, shaving an estimated 0.42 percentage points off overall inflation.

Core inflation,