21.07.2018

KBS News

Today the weather is even warmer than yesterday. Typhoon Ampil is pushing hot air towards the Korean peninsula, so making the heat wave even more severe. Temperatures in Seoul today hit 36.9°c, with the heatwave and tropical storms expected to continue. As things stand, night-time temperatures in Seoul are expected to hit around 25°c with highs of 36°c during the day. There are almost no clouds in the sky to cover the sun. Yesterday the entire country experienced sunshine, with the exception of Jeju which had some light rainfall from early morning. The air pollution index was rated as “normal.” The dawn temperature of 26°c in Seoul, Busan and Gwangju was slightly higher than yesterday. In comparison the midday temperature in Seoul was 36°c, compared with 35°c in Gwangju and 37°c in Daegu. Due to the indirect influence of typhoon Ampil Jeju’s north coast may experience violent waves up to 8m high. Next week it will be clear and hot without rain.

14.07.2018

By Ee Seongcheol

KBS News

[Government has] decided that the current minimum hourly wage of 7,350 will rise by 10.9% next year to ₩8,350. It marks the first time in the thirty years of Korea’s history of a minimum wage that the rate will rise above ₩8,000. The National Minimum Wage Board announced today at 4am from their offices in Sejong City. [Sejong City is a purpose-built government city located Daejeon in the central Chungcheon province.] The rate has been set at ₩8,350 for public employees and ₩8,680 for private employees. Among the 27 members of the voting committee, 14 were members of a public interest committee and 5 people were members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Workers.

In order to keep the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020, it is necessary to increase the annual salary by 15% or more every year. However, user committee members who were absent from the meeting criticized the workers and members of the public interest that the high rate of increase was achieved despite the deterioration of the economic situation. Workers’ committees criticized that they needed to raise 15.3 percent to reach the minimum wage of 10,000 won by 2020, but that they did not meet expectations.

Analysis: ₩8,350 is £5.60 ($7.40) – considerably lower than the UK minium wage for over-25s of £8.75. Korea’s hyper-urbanisation means that the cost of services like public transport, restaurant food and utilities is considerably cheaper than the UK, but other things like supermarket food and consumer durables can be surprisingly expensive. Korea regularly tops charts for supermarket food expense.