Park Geun-hye was sworn in as South Korea's president on Monday, promising a tough attitude on national security and the ambition to revive the economy.

As the country's first female president, critics question whether Park can do better than previous leaders, while the South Korean public is expecting a new era despite various domestic challenges and an increasingly uncertain situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Park hopes she will create an era in which the public will gain a sense of happiness.

Nevertheless, how Park will take concrete actions to build a happy country remains to be seen.

How to transform South Korea from an immature democratic country into a mature one and how to further improve livelihoods and promote social equality are tasks deserving the particular attention of the new president.

In her inaugural address, Park stressed the importance of realizing the country's economic democratization.

During the Lee Myung-bak administration, South Korean conservatives focused on a high speed of economic development.

Therefore, they were quite tolerant toward the development of large consortiums and enterprises that hurt the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises and widened the wealth gap.

"Economic democratization" requires taking on board the interests of all parties.

As a president of the conservative ruling party, it is hard for Park to seek a balance between economic democratization and the speed of development.

Peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula are a must for Park's "happy" era to take place. Another light spot of Park's election campaign was her attitude toward North Korea.

Park promised "confidence-building" on the Korean Peninsula. This is different to the hard-line approach by Lee Myung-bak and the "sunshine policy" by Roh Moo-hyun.

However, against the backdrop of North Korea's third nuclear test earlier this month, Park's "confidence-building" idea greatly risks falling apart. Park urged the denuclearization of Pyongyang in her inaugural address, and she moved quickly to get tough on the North after Pyongyang's third nuclear test.

As I see it, Park, being the president of the conservative ruling party, hides a tough character behind a gentle appearance. This may confine Park's foreign policies, especially on North Korea. 

North Korea's nuclear test set a big obstacle for Park to realize her promises to alleviate South-North tensions. However, it's notable that Park hasn't totally shut the door to building up trust with Pyongyang. She has left scope for engaging with North Korea.

So far, it's uncertain whether Park's suggestions for a confidence-building process could be turned into concrete policies, what forms these potential policies would take and whether they would win the support of the US and South Korean people, but there is still much room to chop and change on these issues.

The Korean Peninsula is one of the regions with the most delicate and sensitive security situation in the world. How to handle relations with North Korea, China, the US and Japan will test Park's political and diplomatic wisdom.

Tensions on the peninsula will drive South Korea closer to the US in security terms, while China is indispensable to the country's economic development.

Park is confronted with a dilemma on how to balance a rising China and the US, the traditional ally that South Korea has attached its fortunes to. Soaring national sentiments both in South Korea and Japan have also added difficulties for Park to improve relations with Japan due to the confinement of the Dokdo islets dispute.

Facing a growing economic gap and a sluggish economy as well as challenges in a complicated diplomatic front, there is pressure for Park to live up to her campaign and inaugural suggestions.

The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Yu Jincui based on an interview with Shi Yuanhua, a professor of the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University. yujincui@globaltimes.com.cn