NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Korea Railroad Corporation said that disruption to train services will continue on Tuesday as well due to heavy rains nationwide. Only half of all Mugunghwa trains connecting Daejeon and Chungju are currently running while Taebaek and Yeongdeong rail lines continue to be suspended. KORAIL said recovery work is taking time due to extensive damage and asked citizens to make sure to check the availability of train operations before making plans.
Statistics Korea said Tuesday the consumer price index edged up 0.3% to 104.86 in July from the same period last year but the inflation rate continues in the zero percent rage for the 4th straight month. Last month, prices of agricultural, livestock and fishery products rose 6.4% while industrial goods fell 0.4%. Price of petroleum goods plummeted more than 10% in particular due to low global oil costs.
Korea's five major banks have posted a 2.28% increase in the balance of personal credit loans. The figure rose to just under 120.2 trillion won as of late July, up 2.6 trillion won from June. People who took part in the so-called panic buying of homes as home prices continued to surge now find it difficult to take out mortgage loans due to new government measures and are naturally relying more on credit loans.