Frank Jensen, mayor of Denmark's capital Copenhagen, resigned on Monday after admitting to several episodes of sexual harassment, and he apologised to "the women I have offended".

Jensen, who will also step down as deputy of Denmark's governing Social Democratic Party, has served as Lord Mayor of Copenhagen since 2010.

His exit came after two women, one of them employed by the Social Democrats, described being sexually harassed by Jensen in 2012 and 2017, in remarks published on Friday by daily Jyllands-Posten. Both incidents were at social events and involved Jensen touching the women against their will, they said.

In a post on Facebook early on Monday, Jensen said he had been part of a "harmful" and "old" culture in the Social Democratic Party.

"I would like to apologise to the women I have offended," Jensen told a news conference.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she took the accusations "very seriously."

"It is obvious that we in the Social Democratic Party have problems, and that needs to change now," she said.

Jensen, 59, has been in politics for more than 30 years, serving at minister of justice and minister of research in the 1990s and early 2000s.