BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - An Argentine woman acknowledged having a relationship with South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, saying yesterday that widely published e-mail correspondence between the two was obtained from her account without permission.

In a brief statement sent to news network C5n of Buenos Aires, Maria Belen Chapur, 41, said she will not talk about her private life, which has already been the focus of intense media scrutiny in the United States and Argentina.

"I have decided to send this statement to clear up certain incorrect things that are being reported, and put an end to a matter that, as you imagine, is very painful to me, my two children, my entire family and close friends."

Chapur said someone accessed her Hotmail account without permission late last year and leaked e-mail correspondence that described a relationship with Sanford to the South Carolina newspaper the State.

Here's a sample, from him to her: "Have you been told lately how warm your eyes are and how they glow with the special nature of your soul," read one. Another: "You have a level of sophistication that is so fitting with your beauty."

Chapur denied that the hacker is a friend of hers - as has been widely reported here - saying he is as much a victim of the media frenzy as she.

"I have a strong suspicion of who is responsible for this evil act that was directed at me but also destroyed the lives of so many others," Chapur said. "But without sufficient proof, and for legal reasons, I am obligated to not reveal the name.

"It is not for me to judge anyone. I leave it all in the hands of God," she concluded.

The statement was addressed to C5n anchor Eduardo Feinman, who read it on camera. Feinman was Chapur's editor when she worked briefly as a television reporter in 2001.

When the governor admitted to the relationship following a secret trip to Argentina earlier this month, he did not identify Chapur.

Reporters had staked out Chapur's building in an upper-class neighborhood in the Argentine capital for days trying to locate her, and pressing for information from neighbors and the owner of a bar that Chapur and Sanford reportedly visited.

People who know Chapur describe her as an elegant, well-mannered, soft-spoken woman who speaks several languages. She is a graduate in political science from the Catholic University of Buenos Aires and a divorced mother of two sons.

Heber Alvarez, a doorman at her building, said she often rises early for morning jogs through the neighborhood.

Chapur's statement came as Sanford was telling the Associated Press that he considered resigning after admitting the affair.

But Sanford said he spoke with close spiritual and political associates who advised him to fight to restore the public's - and his family's - trust in him.

"Resigning would be the easiest thing to do," he said.

Sanford, who hadn't spoken publicly since Friday, talked to AP outside his coastal home on Sullivans Island, S.C. Wearing frayed khaki shorts and a T-shirt, he talked about "walking into the legislative term with a humble spirit."

"I have to go through that voyage over the next 18 months," he said, referring to the number of months he has left in his second term. He is barred by state law from seeking a third and, at one time, had been rumored as a presidential contender in 2012.

Now, Sanford says he wants to repair the public's frayed trust in him and continue to serve the people of South Carolina.

The governor's efforts to stay in office appear, in the minds of some lawmakers, to hinge in part on his ability to salvage his marriage. While several critics want a criminal probe and others want him to step down, reconciling with first lady Jenny Sanford does have sway among legislators.

"That's almost become a proxy for how some are looking at this. They're looking at Jenny," said state Sen. Tom Davis, a Beaufort Republican and former Sanford chief of staff. "In large measure, it depends on how things work and how people see things are working out between the governor and first lady."

As far as his marriage, Sanford said he and his wife are working on it.

"If there wasn't healing going on, I wouldn't be here," he said, pointing to his beach house, where he had dinner with his family Saturday night and where he took a run at sunrise on the sand with one of his sons. *