South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Peru on Saturday for a four-day state visit aimed at further strengthening economic and other relations between the two countries.Park plans to hold summit talks with her Peruvian counterpart,Ollanta Humala, on Monday, a day after a meeting with a group of representatives from the Korean community in Peru.

South Korea hopes that Park's visit could help open the path of mutual growth between the two countries, citing Peru's push to embrace South Korea's economic and social development strategy for its own national development.South Korea has become a global economic powerhouse, rising from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War. In a sign of deepening economic ties, South Korea and Peru implemented their free trade pact in 2011.

Peru is the second stop on Park's four-nation swing to South America that South Korean officials say is designed to boost economic ties with the region. Seoul officials hail the region as a continent of opportunities.

Park's trip will also take her to Chile and Brazil where bilateral economic and trade cooperation is expected to be high on her agenda. In Bogota, Park met with her Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, on Friday and called for a quick ratification of a bilateral free trade agreement the two countries signed in February 2013. South Korea has already ratified the FTA with Colombia but Bogota has yet to ratify it. (Yonhap)