South Korea's conservative leader Lee Myung-bak was sworn in as the country's 17th president on Monday in Seoul, vowing to lead the Eastern Asian country to a road to advancement.

Lee, who won the presidential elections on December 19 last year, promised in his inauguration address to revive the country's economy on the basis of the market economy and to introduce pragmatic ideals into foreign policy.

South Korea will be a nation where the government serves its people with devotion, a nation where the economy is robust and the weak and marginalized are taken care of and a nation where labor and management collaborate is in harmony, he said.

"We must move from the age of ideology into the age of pragmatism," he said. "Pragmatism is a rational principle prevalent in the histories across the globe, and practical wisdom useful in charting our course through the tides of globalization."

Lee said South Korea and North Korea will open a new horizon in bilateral cooperation if North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program and conducts a policy of openness.

He stressed that South Korea will develop a strategic alliance with the United States and seek peace and mutual prosperity with South Korea's close neighbors, including Japan, China and Russia.