President Moon Jae-in instructed his government Tuesday to redouble efforts to address the problem of growing difficulties facing the vulnerable, including micro and small merchants, amid the prolonged COVID-19 crisis.

His message came as the ruling Democratic Party has proposed a fourth batch of emergency relief money handouts, which require supplementary budgets.

Moon pointed out the three key policy goals of 2021 -- recovery, inclusiveness and resurgence -- speaking during a weekly Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae.

"The crisis is not over yet and there are many mountains to climb and valleys to cross," he said in his opening remarks, which pool reporters were allowed to cover.

The president urged government officials to start afresh with an innovative and inclusive approach in their campaign to overcome the coronavirus situation that has lasted more than a year, citing the country's plan to begin vaccination soon.

Moon called for measures against "inequalities and gaps."

"The key to inclusive recovery is to ride out the employment crisis, and relieving small business owners and the self-employed of difficulties is an inevitable task as well," he stressed. "In order to resolve the problem of income inequality, we should strengthen our income support policy for the vulnerable."

On Monday, Moon also publicly raised the need to offer additional financial support for people and businesses hit hard by the pandemic, saying the three rounds of emergency assistance so far are "very insufficient." (Yonhap)