President Park Geun-hye and her Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, agreed Wednesday to improve their free trade deal as they are seeking to expand their cooperation in such areas as health care.

"Our two leaders share the need to upgrade the current free trade agreement by reflecting changes in the trade environment over the past decade," Park said in a joint news conference after a summit with Bachelet at the presidential palace.

Park arrived in Chile, the third stop on her four-nation swing to South America.

The sides are set to hold a working-level meeting for specific discussions to improve the free trade deal that went into effect in 2004, Park said, without giving a specific time frame.

Bilateral trade volume jumped more than fourfold over the past decade, though the trade has been dominated by Seoul's automobile exports and Chilean shipment of natural resources.

Park proposed in a separate forum for business leaders of the two countries that South Korea and Chile revitalize their trade through e-commerce to help diversify export items.

At the summit, the two leaders also agreed to cooperate in such areas as science and technology and Antarctic research.

South Korea has been running King Sejong Base Antarctic research station near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula since 1988, two years after Seoul joined the Antarctic Treaty.

Sejong is one of the most respected kings in the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1392 to 1910, for creating the Korean alphabet: Hangeul.

South Korea and Chile signed a set of memorandums of understanding calling for cooperation in a broader range of areas, including telemedicine, business startups and renewable energy. Park and Bachelet observed the signing of some of the MOUs following the summit.

South Korea said it expects about 180 young aspiring entrepreneurs in the information and technology field to make inroads into Chile over the next 10 years by taking advantage of the Start-up Chile program.

The program, launched by the Chilean government in 2010, has made the South American country an attractive hub of innovative startups with its support package, including a fund worth $40,000 to applicants of a successful project.

Each year, Chile selects about 240 projects out of 5,000 aspiring entrepreneurs from around the world.

South Korea has been pushing to help its young aspiring entrepreneurs advance into foreign countries, though no one has entered the South and Central American markets hailed by Seoul as a continent of opportunities.

South Korea and Chile also agreed to strengthen cooperation in health care, a move that Seoul says could help its companies export telemedicine and hospital information systems to the South American country.

Telemedicine is designed to improve access to quality care for those in medically deprived areas by using information technology, mostly the Internet.

Chile, slightly smaller than two times the size of the U.S. state Montana, is interested in telemedicine as it suffers from a shortage of doctors. Chile has 1.6 doctors per 1,000 people, compared with an average 3.2 for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of 34 mostly rich nations.

South Korea also said it has secured a foothold in renewable energy markets in Chile as the South American country has set the goal of providing 20 percent of its electricity through renewable sources by 2025, compared with 6 percent in 2012.

Chile's renewable energy markets are expected to grow to a size worth US$5.2 billion by 2018.

Separately, Park expressed hope that the two countries will cooperate in spreading renewable energy and developing smart grids during her meeting with business leaders of the two countries.

Smart grid technology is designed to increase power system efficiency.

Also Wednesday, South Korea's top music agency, SM Entertainment, showed a replay of the performance by boy band Super Junior in Japan last week on a 270-degree screen at a digital concert hall in Santiago.

The move is part of Seoul's efforts to help further spread "Hallyu," or the Korean wave. South Korean soap operas, films and pop music have gained popularity in Peru and other South American countries in recent years beyond China and Southeast Asian countries.

Park has visited Colombia and Peru and is set to travel to Brazil before returning home.(Yonhap)