South Korea is expected to determine within this week the minimum wage for next year. 

The Minimum Wage Commission, which includes representatives from the public sector, business and labor, is scheduled to hold full session meetings in Sejong city on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

Labor representatives are seeking to hike the hourly minimum wage 19-point-eight percent next year to ten-thousand won, while the business sector is proposing a four-point-two percent cut to bring it down to eight-thousand won.

An official involved with the council expects a final decision to be reached by Saturday, citing past precedent. Last year, the council reached a consensus at 4:40 a.m. Saturday following continuous breakdowns in consensus among participants.

The commission, however, believes there is a chance discussions may extend beyond Saturday as the gap between labor and business remains considerable.