Consumer prices rise 2.2% in March on surging oil prices

South Korea's consumer prices rose 2.2 percent in March from a year earlier, mainly due to a hike in global oil prices caused by prolonged tensions in the Middle East, government data showed Thursday. The reading, which hovers above the government's 2 percent inflation target, marks the steepest on-year increase since December, when inflation stood at 2.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.