President Moon Jae-in will preside over an emergency economic meeting on Thursday to discuss special relief measures for those hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The presidential office said on Wednesday that the meeting will focus on relief payouts for people who have suffered from the serious economic fallout of the protracted pandemic, including small business owners and the self-employed. 

A fourth supplementary budget plan aimed at financing the tailored emergency relief payments will also be discussed as well as other policies to stabilize the livelihood of the public ahead of the Chuseok holiday. Quarantine measures and other stimulus plans are among additional agenda items to be covered.   

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lim Se-eun said during the meeting that the government will demonstrate its strong will to restore the livelihood of the public by mobilizing every means available and ease difficulties stemming from a resurgence in infections. 

Later in the day, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun will hold an interim Cabinet meeting to announce details of the discussions to be made during the economic meeting and also approve the fourth extra budget plan. 

The latest emergency economic meeting is the eighth of its kind arranged since March to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and comes two months after the previous one where the president announced details of 160 trillion won in stimulus packages as part of the Korean New Deal.