President Park Geun-hye on Friday voiced her concern again over national division due to the planned deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system to South Korea, saying there would be "no compromise or concession" over the crucial security issue.

Hosting a luncheon for those who devoted themselves to South Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and their families, Park renewed her calls for national unity in the face of North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.

"To counter North Korea's provocations and threats, our society must be united as one, but if you look at the reality .... it, in fact, makes (me) feel deeply worried," the commander-in-chief said during the luncheon at her office Cheong Wa Dae.

"Groundless rumors are rampant over the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense), which is the least we could do to defend our nation, and some are even fanning confusion (over THAAD)," she added.

The chief executive was apparently alluding to a group of opposition lawmakers who visited China earlier this week to discuss the THAAD issue with Chinese officials and scholars. Park had rebuked them, saying they "sympathized with" China's position against THAAD.

Beijing, along with Moscow, has strenuously opposed the plan by Seoul and Washington to station THAAD in the southern town of Seongju by end-2017, arguing that the deployment would escalate regional military tensions and undermine its security interests.

Opposition has been much more strident from the residents of Seongju, who are concerned that THAAD's powerful radar system could pose health risks and hurt their agricultural crops. The residents could also fear that their hometown could turn into a military target in case of an armed clash between the U.S. and China.

In recent weeks, Park has repeatedly defended the deployment decision, saying it is an "inevitable, self-defense" measure. She even warned that the act of criticizing the deployment plan without proposing any alternative is like pushing the nation and its people to bear the fallout of a security crisis.

Friday's luncheon gathering was held three days ahead of Liberation Day.

Some 160 people, including 25 former independence fighters and 85 relatives of those that sacrificed for their country, attended the luncheon.

Among the invitees are a great grandson of Canadian veterinarian Dr. Frank W. Schofield (1889-1970) and a grandson of British journalist Ernest Thomas Bethell (1872-1909). Both Schofield and Bethell helped reveal to the world Japan's colonial-era atrocities by publishing stories in newspapers.  (Yonhap)