The two Koreas have agreed on a five percent minimum wage hike for North Korean workers at the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
 
A Unification Ministry official in Seoul said on Tuesday that South Korea’s Gaeseong Industrial District Management Committee and the North’s Central Special Zone Development Guidance General Bureau reached the agreement during negotiations at the complex on Monday.
 
Under the deal, the monthly minimum wage will be raised by five percent from 70 dollars and 35 cents to 73 dollars and 87 cents.
 
The two sides reportedly agreed to hold further talks on the North’s demand to raise the wage by five-point-18 percent, which caused months of disputes between the two Koreas. 
 
With the latest agreement, companies will likely normalize their payments to Gaeseong workers beginning with July, as the deadline to pay July wages approaches on Thursday. The increases will also be paid retroactively going back to March. 
 
Monday’s negotiations came after the two Koreas failed to come to terms in July. 
 
South and North Korea have been at loggerheads over wage hikes since Pyongyang unilaterally announced it would raise the monthly minimum wage of employees by five-point-18 percent in February. 
 
According to a tentative agreement reached on May 22, South Korean firms have been paying their North Korean workers based on the previous monthly wage of 70 dollars and 35 cents, while promising retroactive pay and related fee charges in accordance with results of future negotiations.