North Korea blasts Japanese prime minister as an “idiot and villain” over weapons test criticism

A North Korean official called Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an “idiot and villain,” in a statement Thursday, after Abe criticized a North Korean weapons test.

During a regional summit in Thailand earlier this week, Abe criticized North Korea after it stated that it test-fired rocket artillery last week, according to The Associated Press. Abe called the move a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, but he did say that he is eager to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “without conditions.”

But Thursday the North Korean government hit back in a statement attributed to a foreign ministry official, Song Il Ho, the AP reported. 

{mosads} “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 DPRK’s test-fire of super-large multiple rocket launchers,” the North’s KCNA state news agency said, citing the ambassador’s statement.

North Korea said it conducted a third test-firing of a “super-large” rocket launcher last week. However, the Japanese Defense Ministry has said the tests used ballistic weapons, according to the AP.  

The Thursday statement also blasted Abe for the ministry’s assessment of the weapons.

“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 statement said, according to the AP. 

“It is too natural that Abe is treated as a poor dog and dwarf that fails to enter the international political arena with the Korean Peninsula as a center,” it continued.

North Korea has regularly released insults against foreign government leaders who criticize the nation. It has released racist and sexist comments about former President Obama and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female president, the AP reported.

Kim called President Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard,” in a 2017 statement.