Min Joo Kang, senior economist at ING, said the Bank of Korea is expected to delay its next interest rate cut until October in response to the recent rise in domestic house prices and household debt. Kang pointed out that the Bank of Korea can proceed cautiously and focus more on financial stability, with inflation expected to be around the central bank's 2 percent target for the foreseeable future. The country's headline consumer inflation rose 2.2 percent in June from a year earlier, slightly higher than the consensus market estimate of 2.1 percent. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, held steady at 2.0 percent for the second month in a row. (Jin Ten)