President Park Geun-hye apologized to her rival political party on Friday for "causing concern" over a series of resignations by her nominees for senior government posts, a spokesman said.

The president made the apology during a dinner meeting with leaders of the main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, DUP spokesman Jung Sung-ho said in a press briefing.

The meeting was the first between the president and the DUP leadership since her inauguration on Feb. 25.

"I am sorry for causing concern," the spokesman quoted the president as saying. "When I came to Cheong Wa Dae, there was no reference material. (I) vetted (the personnel) through material collected from different organizations but the problems arose from issues that were not included in the material."

(Yonhap News)