The consumer price index rose 4.8% in February from a year before, slower than January's 5.2%, according to Statistics Korea.
It was lower than 5.1% tipped in a Reuters poll and marked the slowest annual rise since April 2022.
The index rose 0.3% on a monthly basis, compared with 0.8% in the previous month and 0.5% expected by economists. (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Lincoln Feast)