The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Friday denied as "groundless" allegations that President Park Geun-hye received plastic surgery during a 2014 ferry disaster.

Despite Cheong Wa Dae's repeated denials, allegations have continued to dog Park that she was absent from her office for some seven hours during the sinking of the ferry Sewol on April 16, which left more than 300 passengers, mostly young students, dead or missing.

Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk stressed that "malicious" reports on the allegations constitute as "grave" libel.

"The continuing allegations that Park underwent plastic surgery on the day the ferry Sewol sank are totally groundless rumors," he told reporters, stressing that the president herself reconfirmed that the allegations were unfounded.

The spokesman also stressed that the president on the day of the accident received a total of 15 briefings on the tragedy, and that the president's security staff confirmed that no outsider or hospital vehicle ever visited the presidential residence on the day. (Yonhap)