South Korea's inflation rate recorded an official drop for the first time in September, amid concerns that the country is slipping into a period of deflation.

According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, consumer prices fell point-four percent in September from a year earlier, marking the first on-year drop in inflation since the agency began compiling related data in 1965.

Before posting negative growth last month, the inflation rate had remained below one percent for eight straight months dating back to January, the longest such period since 2015.

Lee Doo-won, director of the agency's price statistics division, assessed that record low consumer prices were caused by temporary factors and policy measures, such as expanded free education and a base effect in which prices of agricultural products were relatively higher last year.