It's been a month since we introduced "Aunt Philippines".The wage controversy still lingers.

100 Filipino housekeepers put 142 households in downtown Seoul
Cancellation of 24 households in a month...51 new household matching
Ministry of Employment and Labor and Seoul Metropolitan Government "High Satisfaction with Service-Use Families"

[Anchor]
It's been a month since the Philippine housekeeper project, which was pushed to fill the care gap, was implemented, but the noise surrounding the application of the minimum wage still continues.

While the whereabouts of the two housekeepers who left their accommodation during the Chuseok holiday are still unclear, disagreements between the government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which are in charge of the pilot project, are also being exposed.

This is reporter Cha Jung-yoon.

[Reporter]
In early August, 100 Filipino housekeepers entered the country with expectations for Korean life.

After four weeks of training, he began working in 142 families in downtown Seoul, and 98 people are now working in 169 families.

Within a month, 24 families canceled services due to change of mind, difficulties in time adjustment, etc.

51 new households have applied and matched.

The government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government evaluated that the service satisfaction of households was high.

[Han Eun-sook / Foreign Human Resources Officer of Ministry of Employment and Labor (Last month 24th): Fortunately, there are many positive voices coming from households. There are compliments for being sincere and considerate...]

[Kim Sun-soon / Head of Seoul Women's Family Office (Last month's 24th): You are on time because you came early. They were kind and polite. (There was a reaction.)

However, while the two housekeepers who left their accommodation on the 15th of last month, the Chuseok holiday, are still out of reach, it is highly analyzed that they chose to stay illegally.

Low wages are cited as the main reason for their unauthorized departure.

If you work for 8 hours and 5 days a day, you will receive 2.06 million won per month by applying the domestic minimum wage,

Excluding about 400,000 won per month for accommodation and transportation, the actual amount of income will be reduced further.

Even the heads of the two organizations responsible for the pilot project expressed disagreement over the application of the minimum wage.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon insists on lowering wages for foreign domestic managers in Korea, saying they are too expensive compared to Hong Kong and Singapore, but

[Oh Se-hoon / Seoul Mayor (last August): I think it will bring about a win-win result if the working class and the middle class can get help from this person (foreign domestic managers) without any burden, not just some wealthy people.]

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo expressed negative signs, saying it is difficult to lower wages in reality.

First of all, the government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government are considering ways to solve the salary problem within the current system, such as changing the salary system to a weekly salary system.

With the government announcing its plan to expand the business of foreign domestic managers with 1,200 people in the first half of next year, it is expected to be difficult until the main project.

I'm YTN's Cha Jung Yoon.

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video: Lee Ju-yeon
Graphic: Kim Jinho