Japan's prime minister calls South Korea a 'foolish country': magazine report

South Korean internet users are fuming after a conservative Japanese magazine reported that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had called South Korea a "foolish country".

"China is an absurd country but it still knows diplomacy. Korea is a foolish country that isn't even able to negotiate," said Abe, according to a report published on Thursday in the Shukan Bunshun.

The article, entitled “Striking Korea’s weakness,” also revealed that Abe thought South Korean President Park Geun-hye was opposed to Japan because she had “treacherous subjects”, led by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, around her.

The report, written by an anonymous reporter, did not describe when or where Abe had made the comments.

Tokyo has not released a statement on the article but was aware of the story and should the government make a statement it will be posted on the foreign ministry's website, the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong told the South China Morning Post.

Japan recently considered implementing unofficial economic sanctions against South Korea in response to a recent court ruling requiring Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Korean workers who were conscripted by Japan during the second world war, said the article.

On Thursday, however, Abe met with South Korean lawmakers in Tokyo and said he wanted to talk to President Park before the end of the year to normalise ties between the two nations, which have been tense due to a maritime territorial dispute and what Seoul sees as Japan’s attempt to whitewash its wartime atrocities.