(LEAD) Minimum wage for 2025 surpasses 10,000 won for 1st time

The minimum wage for next year was set at 10,030 won (US$7.30) per hour Friday, marking the first time the compulsory hourly minimum wage has surpassed the 10,000 won level. The rate reached during the 11th plenary meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission marks an increase of 170 won, or 1.7 percent, from this year's 9,860 won. The increase rate is the second lowest on record. The 2025 hourly wage translates to 2.1 million won per month, based on a 40-hour workweek. The management side and a majority of the public interest members adopted the 10,030 won minimum wage in a vote after some labor representatives of the commission walked out, protesting that the increase was too low. Labor members had initially proposed 12,600 won as the 2025 minimum wage, while management had suggested a freeze. The 2025 minimum wage marks the first time it has exceeded 10,000 won since South Korea introduced the minimum wage system in 1988. The rate surpassed the 5,000 won mark in 2014. The rate of increase at 1.7 is the sm allest since the 1.5 percent rise in 2021. According to data from Statistics Korea, the national statistics agency, about 3 million workers are estimated to be affected by next year's minimum wage. After the commission submits its determination of the latest minimum wage, the labor ministry is required to publicly pronounce it by Aug. 5 for it to take effect at the beginning of 2025. Either the labor or the management side can submit a formal objection to the new minimum wage. The labor ministry will then assess whether the objection is reasonable and, if deemed valid, ask the commission to reconsider the rate. But no such reconsideration has taken place so far. Protesting labor members associated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the more militant of the country's two biggest umbrella unions, strongly denounced the result and said they cannot accept it. Of the nine labor members, four affiliated with the KCTU boycotted the vote, while the remaining five and four of the nine public i nterest members were estimated to have voted in favor of another 10,120 won proposal that was put to a vote alongside the 10,030 proposal. Source: Yonhap News Agency