John McCain calls Kim Jong Un 'crazy' and 'fat' during interview

March 22 (UPI) -- Kim Jong Un's nuclear and missile provocations are earning him more facetious nicknames on Capitol Hill.

On Wednesday, it was U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who called the North Korean leader a "crazy fat kid" during an interview on MSNBC's "For the Record with Greta."

McCain is 80. Kim is believed to be 33.

McCain made the remark when he suggested that Beijing should do more to control North Korea's bad behavior.

"China is the one, the only one, that can control Kim Jong Un, this crazy fat kid that's running North Korea," McCain said. "They're the ones. They could stop North Korea's economy in a week."

The Republican senator from Arizona also said Kim was more extreme than Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

"He's not rational, Greta. We're not dealing even with someone like Joseph Stalin, who had a certain rationality to his barbarity," he said.

Earlier in March, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, suggested Kim was behind the assassination of his older half-brother Kim Jong Nam.

The attack, which involved the use of internationally banned nerve agent VX, is a good reason to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, Cruz said Friday.

But the views of Kim taking shape in Washington may be less likely to guarantee a diplomatic breakthrough, despite U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's commitment to work with China to mitigate aggression.

Beijing wants dialogue to take priority over other concerns.

The U.S. military has not suspended joint drills on the peninsula, and on Wednesday U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said strong nuclear and conventional forces must be maintained for North Korea's "reckless" and "provocative" behavior, according to Yonhap.

"North Korea's reckless rhetoric and provocative actions continue despite United Nations censure and sanctions. This situation calls for our department to maintain a safe and secure nuclear deterrent and a decisive conventional force that can also fight irregular enemies, since our military must be able to counter all threats facing us," Mattis said.