Laos is the final Asian visit of Obama’s eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region.
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Mr Duterte also said his country had not received an apology for alleged misdeeds committed during the USA colonisation of the Philippines in the last century.
“Son of a w***e, I will curse you in that forum”.
He has previously used the epithet against Pope Francis, although he later apologised, and the USA ambassador to the Philippines.
“I am a president of a sovereign state, and we have long ceased to be a colony”, Duterte told reporters before he left his country for Laos, where he and Obama will attend the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
According to the DFA statement, President Duterte explained that the press reports that President Obama would “lecture” him on extrajudicial killings led to his strong comments, which in turn elicited concern.
He now “regrets” that calling Obama “son of a whore” caused so much controversy.
President Barack Obama says he wants to forge a partnership with Laos to make the two countries “whole again” after troubled relations dating to the Vietnam War.
Obama initially shrugged off Duterte’s comments, telling reporters, “Clearly, he’s a colorful guy”.
Obama also said the US will partner with Laos on “improving education”.
But a White House spokesman has since confirmed the President will be meeting his South Korean counterpart today instead of Duterte.
Spokeswoman for the Chinese foreign ministry Hua Chunying said the Chinese side stands ready to work with ASEAN to hold a successful summit and to build a closer China-ASEAN community of common destiny.
In one of the last acts of his so-called “pivot” to Asia, Obama is expected to announce greater help in clearing bombs dropped by U.S. forces on Laos during the Vietnam War.
He has said he wants to begin to address the legacy of the United States bombing of the country during the Vietnam War. The summit will be followed by a series of other meetings on Wednesday and a summit Thursday between leaders from ASEAN and other countries, including the United States, China, Russia, India, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
More than 2,400 suspected drug traffickers and users have been executed since Mr Duterte launched a war on drugs after taking office at the end of June.
Duterte has earlier cursed at the Pope and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
He has accused a senator heading an inquiry into the killings of getting payoffs from drug lords.
The Philippines, which has overlapping claims with China to islands and atolls in the sea, won an global ruling against Beijing in July.
An worldwide tribunal ruled in July that China’s claims to the waters – through which $5 trillion in global shipping trade passes – had no legal basis.
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An arbitration court in The Hague in July invalidated China’s territorial claims after a case was brought by the Philippines, a ruling Beijing refuses to recognize. “So … people who live in glass houses should not” throw stones”, Duterte said, the Associated Press reported.
