The ruling Democratic Party (DP) has switched its strategy in giving out the nation's fourth round of emergency coronavirus relief handouts, opting to first prioritize a selective program as opposed to seeking both selective and universal stimulus packages in the same time window.

On Sunday, DP Chairman Rep. Lee Nak-yon announced that the party and the government will engage in full-fledged talks on the country's new round of emergency relief handouts under a plan to submit an extra budget draft to the National Assembly in early March and provide the funds within next month.

The DP currently eyes including money to fund selective handouts toward small businesses that have undergone forced closures and restrictions from the government's antivirus measures in the envisioned extra budget.

This represents a shift in strategy, as Lee and senior DP officials, just up until the Lunar New Year holiday, have publicly stated that the party will push to include universal, no-strings-attached stimulus checks for all nationals together with a selective package for virus-weary small business operators.

DP floor leader Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon explained that the party will first deliberate on a selective program in the interest of speeding up support for small business damage caused during the course of the latest third wave of the pandemic that begun in November of last year.

"We will review a (universal) emergency relief program to prop up domestic spending after the coronavirus situation stabilizes,"

Kim said Sunday, adding that the DP is not saying it will not push for a universal program.

This time around, the party is seeking to provide a beefier package to struggling small merchants than the previous one handed out earlier this year, which amounted to around 9.3 trillion won ($8.43 billion). According to DP insiders, a budget scale as high as 15 trillion won is being discussed within the party.

The party-government negotiations on the extra budget, however, are expected to undergo a tumultuous process, as the fiscal authorities are reportedly discussing numbers that are more conservative and closer to the scale of the previous third round.

Senior party and government officials, including Lee, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and Kim Sang-jo, Cheong Wa Dae's top policy official, held a closed-door meeting Sunday to discuss the extra budget.

According to informed sources, Lee during the meeting reportedly insisted on providing broader and bigger support compared to the previous round of handouts. Some members representing the government reportedly expressed disapproval toward Lee's demand.

"Negotiations on the scale of the extra budget have only just begun. Provisions could begin in March if the party and the government see eye to eye on a certain level, but there will be differences in ideas when it comes to specifics in terms of the subjects and the scale of the program," a DP insider said.

Regarding the high-level party-government meeting on Sunday, Lee told reporters on Monday that he gave government officials "homework" to come up with ways to minimize the blind spots in the government's current virus relief program.

Lee mentioned street vendor merchants, freelance contract workers signed with delivery applications and other platform services, and proprietors of newly-established small businesses as examples of those who could be excluded from the government support programs.

The party is also reportedly mulling on loosening the minimum requirements for businesses eligible for financial support in order to increase the number of recipients, which stood at some 2.8 million in the most recent third round.

The shift in the DP's emergency handout strategy follows a recent public policy clash between the party and the finance ministry over the direction of the country's fourth round of emergency coronavirus handouts.

Lee announced last month that the DP plans to consult with the government on a two-pronged approach of providing selective and targeted support to those experiencing relatively more severe economic difficulties and also of issuing universal stimulus checks to everyone.

Hong, however, publicly expressed concerns specifically with Lee's idea, suggesting that it would be difficult for state coffers to support both handout programs in the current state.

Some political observers interpret the DP's shift in strategy as the party taking a political hit, as the party, as for now, has seemingly regressed from its bold, two-pronged strategy.

Others also note that the party is considering the dilemma of the correlation between growth in the number of new virus patients and the government and politicians promoting that people leave their homes to spend money.

Some observers also predict that the party and the government could announce their goal to seek a universal stimulus program in the future when announcing their final plan on providing more immediate support toward struggling small businesses.

Since last year, South Korea has drawn up three rounds of emergency relief funds totaling 31.4 trillion won, including 14.3 trillion-won stimulus checks for all households in May last year. (Yonhap)