N Korea slams Abe as ‘idiot’ over missile criticism

SEOUL: North Korea slammed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as an "idiot and villain" on Thursday and warned he will never set foot in Pyongyang after he condemned the North’s latest weapons test.

Pyongyang last week tested what it called "super-large multiple rocket launchers" but Japan said they were likely ballistic missiles that violated UN sanctions, sparking a colourful personal diatribe against Abe.

"Abe, prime minister of Japan, is an idiot and villain," said Song Il Ho, ambassador of the North’s foreign ministry, in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

The Japanese prime minister was "a deformed child" and "an underwit", Song said, accusing Abe of being unable to tell the difference between multiple rocket launchers and missiles.

Japan, which is one of the most hawkish of the major powers on the nuclear-armed North, has relentlessly pursued a summit with its leader Kim Jong Un over the fate of a handful of Japanese abductees in North Korea.

But the statement said: "Abe would be well-advised not to dream forever of crossing the threshold of Pyongyang." North Korea has shown little interest in engagement with Tokyo. Kim has met with US President Donald Trump, China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in in recent years.