But the newspaper said that Mr. Na was lying and noted that its reporters had given him several chances to retract or modify his remarks before publishing them.

The outrage, and the government’s quick attempts at damage control, reflect how sensitive South Koreans have become over worsening income inequality, and what officials and critics of the government call a rising tension between the country’s poor and rich.

“I believe that we should solidify a class system in our society,” Mr. Na, 47, was quoted as telling Kyunghyang reporters over dinner on Thursday. “The people should be treated like dogs and pigs. It’s enough just to feed them and let them live.”

Asked who “the people” were, Mr. Na said they were the “99 percent,” adding that he was trying to belong to “the 1 percent,” Kyunghyang said.

He compared South Korea’s so-called 99 percent to “blacks and Hispanics in the United States who don’t even try to enter politics or climb the social ladder.”

Mr. Na also said he did not sympathize with a 19-year-old subcontractor who was hit and killed by a train while carrying out repairs at a subway station in Seoul, the capital, in May. An investigation showed that the man had been working without adequate safety measures and that he was paid less than half of what regular subway workers performing similar tasks earn.

When newspapers reported that the worker was given little time for meals — he was found with a package of unopened instant noodles in his bag — his death became a rallying cry for some against the plight of young, poor South Koreans known as “dirt spoons,” who they said stood no chance against “gold spoons,” or the children of the rich.