North Korean diplomat slams Japan's Abe over missile tests criticism

Threatening Japan with "serious disaster" if it persists in "provoking" Pyongyang, a North Korean diplomat on Thursday slammed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as an "idiot and villain" after he criticised recent weapon tests by North Korea.

Song Il-ho, the North Korean ambassador, in a statement, slammed Abe for his inability to make a distinction between North Korea's "super-large multiple rocket launchers" and a "ballistic missile", reported Sputnik quoting the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"Abe is also a rarely ignorant man who dreams of making Japan a military power, failing to distinguish between multiple rocket launchers and missiles, and he is an under-wit as he is only able to say such crude words as 'provocation,' 'outrage,' 'violation,' 'abduction,' and 'pressure," the diplomat said in a statement.

Song further said, "Abe is an idiot and villain as he is making a fuss as if a nuclear bomb was dropped on the land of Japan, taking issue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) test-fire of super-large multiple rocket launchers."

He added that the Japanese Prime Minister is being treated by the international community as a "poor dog and a dwarf" that fails to enter the international political arena. He also said that with Abe as leader, Japan is "censured as a politically small nation, sinking island country, and a gloomy, desolate country by the world."

"If Japan persists in "provoking DPRK", then Pyongyang will "do what it wishes to do, indifferent to the island nation", Song added. Warning Abe, the statement further said that the prime minister shouldn't "dream of crossing the threshold of Pyongyang."

During the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three summit held in Thailand, which kicked off on October 31, Abe had strongly condemned North Korea's missile launches, saying they are in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. However, the Japanese Prime Minister also expressed his willingness to conduct talks with North Korea "without conditions."

This isn't the first time North Korea has issued crude insults against foreign leaders. During tensions created by a provocative run in missile tests in 2017, Kim Jong-un called US President Donald Trump a "mentally deranged US dotard", after Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea.

( With inputs from ANI )