President Moon Jae-in said Monday his administration will push for "bold and sufficient" ways to tackle the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The government will do its best to come up with sufficient measures in a bold manner, without losing an opportunity, to overcome the crisis within a range that finance can afford," he said at the start of a weekly meeting with senior Cheong Wa Dae aides.

His remarks came amid a brewing controversy over the proposed fourth batch of emergency relief handouts to people and businesses in South Korea that have suffered a blow from more than a year of the spread of the coronavirus.

At issue again is whether universal handouts are needed or a selective approach is desirable.

The left-leaning Moon administration first provided every household with up to 1 million won ($893) last year. It then shifted the focus to help the vulnerable, especially the self-employed and micro and small merchants, in the second and third round of tailored emergency relief cash handouts.

"It is not easy to determine what is the best, given the realistic conditions," the president said.

He described it as a task for the people to pool their wisdom and the political circles to cooperate in a bipartisan way. "The final responsibility lies with the government," Moon added.

"We are on a path that we have never experienced before in terms of both the crisis and a response to it," he stressed. (Yonhap)