Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon is urging small business owners not to sack their employees because of a minimum wage hike, but to instead apply for help through a state subsidy program. 

Kim made the request to the owners of coffee shops and restaurants he visited in the Jongno District in Seoul Friday while promoting the job stability fund. 

The government plans to dole out the fund worth nearly three trillion won to support small business owners with less than 30 employees. If an employee at one of these workplaces receives less than one-point-nine million won in monthly wages, the government will offer assistance of 130-thousand won for the employee's salary every month. 

The government is receiving applications through some four-thousand offices across the country. Around three-million business owners are expected to benefit from the program.

Last year, the government increased the minimum wage for this year 16-point-four percent to seven-thousand-530 won per hour.