An American YouTube star says he does not expect to be forgiven after he posted a video which showed the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan.

The video showed Logan Paul and friends discovering the body in the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides.

It prompted a barrage of criticism online with some comments calling it "disrespectful" and "disgusting".

Paul took down the video and later apologised saying he was "misguided".

"I have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgement, and I don't expect to be forgiven," he said in a video apology posted to Twitter.

"I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down and stopped recording what we were going through. There's a lot of things I should have done differently, but I didn't", he said.

"I'm ashamed of myself," he added. "I'm disappointed in myself."

The video was uploaded on Sunday and had millions of views on YouTube before it was taken down.

Logan Paul, a huge internet personality, has more than 15 million subscribers on the website and a loyal fanbase of mainly tweens and teenagers.

Japan has one of the highest rates of suicide in the developed world and Aokigahara has a particularly tragic reputation as a destination for people wanting to take their own lives.

The 15-minute video is part of a series of posts from Japan where the US vlogger is on a trip with friends.

They go on a visit to the forest intending to focus on the "haunted" aspect of it, he says in the video. After walking a short distance into the forest, the group come across a body.

Paul is visibly shocked by the discovery but also makes jokes.

The group is filmed approaching the body, which is shown in several close-ups where only the face is blurred out.

A member of the group is heard off camera saying he "doesn't feel good". Paul then asks him: "What, you never stand next to a dead guy?" He then laughs.

The identity of the deceased man is not known, reports BBC.