SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's consumer prices grew at a slower pace in September than a month earlier, but they still remained above the government's annual inflation target mainly due to high food and oil prices, a report showed Tuesday.

According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 4.3 percent last month from a year earlier, sharply slowing from the 5.3 percent on-year gain in August, which was the largest jump in three years.

The September figure still marked the ninth straight month that the consumer price hike has surpassed the government's annual inflation target of 4 percent for this year.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food costs, rose 3.9 percent from a year earlier, slightly down from 4 percent tallied in August, the report showed.