VIENTIANE, Laos — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday expressed “regrets” for issuing profanity-laced remarks against US President Barack Obama which caused Washington to cancel their bilateral meeting.

In a statement read by Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, the President blamed the media for reporting on Obama’s plan to “lecture” him about human rights which prompted him to curse at the American leader.

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“While the immediate cause of my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US President,” Duterte said.

The President flew here to attend the three-day 28th and 29th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summits, his first foreign travel since he was sworn in as head of state on June 30.

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