On August 5th this year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor notified that the minimum wage in Korea for next year has been set at 6,470 won per hour, which is a 7.3% increase from this year. The Minimum Wage System, which started in 1988 in Korea, requires that employers pay their employees minimum wage or more. It receives the public’s attention every year because it affects the labor market and, by extension, the overall economy. Therefore, conflicts between labor and management always happen when setting the increase rate of minimum wage. Some people even raise questions about the drawbacks of the system, and necessity for some new systems to supplement or substitute it is being brought up. The following cover stories will look into these phenomena about minimum wage.