SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's new president Park Geun-hye urged North Korea on Monday to abandon its nuclear ambitions immediately and to stop wasting its scarce resources on arms development.

"I urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions without delay and embark on the path to peace and shared development," Park said as she was inaugurated as the country's first woman leader.

Park took office just 13 days after the North's young leader Kim Jong-un carried out the country's third nuclear weapons test, its most powerful to date.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Jack Kim; Editing by David Chance)