President Park Geun-hye spoke with the head of South Korea's oldest research station in Antarctica by phone, officials said Thursday, as she concluded her three-day visit to Chile.

Park gave a pep talk to Ahn In-young, female head of King Sejong Station, during their telephone conversation.

Park asked Ahn and other South Korean researchers to make utmost efforts in conducting their research while taking care of their health, presidential officials said.

South Korea has been running the station on King George Island in Antarctica since 1988, two years after Seoul joined the Antarctic Treaty. The research station is named after King Sejong the Great of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1392 to 1910.

The research station is currently staffed by Ahn and 16 other engineers and scientists, who collect data for research ranging from glaciology to the natural environment.

South Korea has another station, Jang Bogo Station, in Terra Nova Bay near the Ross Sea on the southeastern tip of Antarctic.

The phone call came hours before Park left for Brazil, the last stop on her four-nation swing to South America. The trip already took her to Colombia and Peru.

On Wednesday,Park and her Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet, agreed to cooperate in Antarctic research during their summit.

South Korea and Chile also agreed to push for the opening of a joint cooperative center in Punta Arenas, in Chile's southernmost region, for research in Antarctica. (Yonhap)