Philippines in UN withdrawal U-turn after Duterte calls body 'son of a whore'

The Philippines will not be looking to withdraw from the UN, the country's foreign minister has said, following a foul-mouth tirade by its leader Rodrigo Duterte in which he called the international body the "son of a whore". Tough talking Duterte,a rank outsider who was elected to lead his country on a stringent anti-drug and anti-crime ticket, has presided over a purge of drug dealers and and others involved in the country's drug trade.

Facing criticism from the UN and international NGOs over the deaths – it is estimated that police have killed 650 people with 900 hundred others dead following unexplained vigilante murders – Duterte lashed out at the international body saying the Philippines could leave.

However, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay has brushed off Duterte's comments, saying they were a "statement expressing profound disappointment and frustration".

"We are committed to the U.N. despite our numerous frustrations with this international agency," Reuters quoted Yasay as saying.

Speaking in Davao, the city where he earned his reputation as an enforcer as mayor on 21 August, Duterte said in an address: "Maybe we'll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations.

"If you are that insulting, we should just leave," he said. "Take us out of your organisation. You have done nothing anyway."

Earlier this month the UN's anti-drug office said, it was "greatly concerned" by the killings of those who are suspected of drug dealing and associated crimes. In June, the UN's secretary general Ban Ki-Moon condemned Duterte over extrajudicial killings and said they were "illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms".

The Filippino president brushed off the criticisms at the time saying: "Why would the United Nations be so easily swayed into interfering in the affairs of this republic? There are only 1,000 [killed]."

In the past, Duerte has also railed against several human rights groups which have criticised the wave of bloodletting across the Philippines. He also threatened to impose martial law if the country's judiciary refuses to cooperate with him in his anti-drug operation.

While the newly elected president has himself been accused of being involved in the Philippines widespread drug trade so to have scores of officials in the army, judiciary and police in the south east Asian nation which is on the cusp of becoming a narco state.