Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo said that differentiating the minimum wage for Filipino domestic helpers is virtually impossible, saying he'll hold talks with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon regarding the issue.

During his first press conference since taking office on Monday, Kim said that after a review by the labor ministry, paying the foreign domestic helpers less than one million won through a differentiated minimum wage will not be easy.

The comments come after Mayor Oh called for the need for differentiated wages to ease the cost of paying domestic helpers.

Domestic helpers from the Philippines began working in Seoul through a pilot project run by the Seoul city government this month. They are subject to the country's minimum wage, which pays a monthly salary of around two million won, or around one-thousand-500 U.S. dollars, based on an eight-hour workday.