South Korea will spend 4 trillion won ($3.8 billion) over the next three years to boost venture start-ups and encourage entrepreneurship, the finance minister said Friday.

"We will improve systems for each stage from business launch to growth, recoupment of invested money and retrying (after a failure), and spend 4 trillion won by the end of 2017 to regain vitality in business start-ups and unrelenting spirit," Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok told a public-private joint meeting on realizing the "creative economy" vision.

Creative economy is a signature economic policy proposed by President Park Geun hye that calls for pushing the economy forward by creating new business opportunities, industries and jobs through the fusion of information and communication technology, culture and other areas.

Hyun said the government plan last year to support venture start-ups fell short of making a marked progress.

The government will open the so-called innovation centers in 17 cities and provinces across the country to create the right environment for creative economy and provide a place where ideas can be commercialized with the help of experts in each area, he said.

In order to accelerate the fusion among Internet-based industries, Hyun said that the government will tackle regulations hampering their development while strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights. (Yonhap)