South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye has personally apologized for a sexual harassment scandal involving her chief spokesman and a female Korean-American intern during her trip to Washington.

Park begged pardon for the “unsavory” incident between now-dismissed Yoon Chang Jung and a young intern who filed a complaint against the South Korean official for allegedly harassing her during the latter part of the president’s official visit to the US.

“I feel so sorry for letting my people (become) disappointed because of this disgraceful incident, which a public official shouldn’t be involved in,” Park said in a meeting on Monday.

“I sincerely apologize for the shock the female student and her parents must have received and the scars left on the hearts of overseas compatriots,” she said, according to a report of the meeting posted on the presidential Blue House website.

Park, South Korea’s first female leader, vowed a thorough investigation into the incident so that no “single speck” of suspicion remained.