President Moon Jae-in on Friday stepped up calls for the National Assembly to swiftly approve an extra budget bill, citing "desperate" hardship facing small merchants hit by the COVID-19 restrictions.

"As the situation of small merchants and self-employed people is desperate, the National Assembly should actively cooperate to resolve the difficulties of people's livelihoods by approving an extra budget bill as soon as possible," Moon told a meeting with his aides earlier in the day, according to Moon's spokesperson Park Kyung-mee.

The budget proposal of 14 trillion won ($11.6 billion) was submitted to the National Assembly last month.

Moon delivered a similar message on Feb. 8, saying, "We cannot delay support for small merchants and self-employed people even for a moment."

Moon's remarks came amid a tug-of-war between Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and political parties that demand bigger spending from the government.

The ruling Democratic Party proposed a 35 trillion-won extra budget and the main opposition People Power Party called for a 50 trillion-won supplementary budget. Hong has been opposing a sharp expansion of the extra budget, considering its impact on consumer prices and the state bond market. (Yonhap)