South Korean President Park Geun-hye is inaugurated Monday during a ceremony as the country's first female leader.
During her speech, Park urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and to stop wasting its scarce resources on arms development, less than two weeks after the country carried out its third nuclear test.
One of Park's campaign promises was to engage with the North if it halted its nuclear weapons plans.
Park, 61, is the daughter of South Korea's former military ruler Park Chung-hee.
Park's father seized power in a 1961 coup and ruled for 18 years until he was gunned down by his security chief in 1979.
He helped transform South Korea from a poverty-stricken country where income was just $100 a year into what is now Asia's fourth largest economy and an industrial powerhouse whose cars, telephones and ships are sold worldwide.