President Park Geun-hye on Thursday visited the Creative Economy Valley, a major hub for tech start-ups, located in Pangyo, south of Seoul, and encouraged entrepreneurs.

At the tech valley, she visited two business companies — a start-up specializing in coupon services and a software firm.

The presidential office said Park also held talks with the heads of start-ups during which she lauded them as the hope of the nation's economy. The president also called for continued efforts to foster an ecosystem for a virtuous creative economy cycle that consists of start-ups, their growth and their advancement overseas.

The Thursday visit was her fifth on-site policy inspection that began from last month.