A presidential official on Thursday expressed displeasure after a Japanese magazine reportedly derided President Park Geun-hye as “imbecile of the week” for taking a tough stance on the former colonial ruler.
The latest edition of the weekly Shukan Bunshun carried an article about Park’s stance on Tokyo, accusing her of “creating disturbances” with regard to rows over the sovereignty of the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo and Japan’s enslavement of Korean women as sex slaves during World War II.
Park has been tough with Japan over these issues, rejecting calls for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and saying she sees no point in holding talks with him as long as Tokyo maintains the wrong perceptions of history.
Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula as a colony from 1910-45.
The Japanese magazine described Park as the “imbecile of the week” and an “ajumma spreading curses,” according to a newspaper report. Ajumma is a Korean word referring to ordinary middle-aged women and sometimes carries derogatory connotations.
The magazine also said Park, who has never been married, needs an “adult boyfriend.”
“Foul language and writings are shameful and disgraceful things that would be regretted for a lifetime,” a presidential aide told reporters in response to a question about the article. “It is not worth a response.” (Yonhap News)
