Deliberations at the Minimum Wage Commission to set the 2027 minimum wage have entered the final phase ahead of the statutory deadline. The commission must decide within 90 days of the labor minister's request for review, by June 29, the outlet Industry News reported.

The commission earlier convened a plenary session at the government complex in Sejong and launched deliberations after electing Sungshin Women's University professor Kwon Soon-won as chair. But from the start, friction over the chair's election and the conduct of proceedings dragged on.

The dispute is not only over the size of the raise. Labor signaled a steep increase while business insists on a freeze, and the two sides clashed head-on over whether to apply the minimum wage to contract workers such as delivery riders, study-paper teachers and home-visit installers. The spread of platform labor has pushed the very scope of the minimum-wage system into a new point of contention.

The minimum wage is tied directly to the livelihoods of the self-employed, small merchants and foreign workers in restaurants and convenience stores. Since many in Korea's Chinese community run small businesses or work hourly jobs, the outcome of the final round bears directly on their household budgets.