North Korea is threatening to go nuclear over Sen. John McCain’s description of the repressive regime’s rotund leader Kim Jong Un as a “crazy fat kid,” calling his comments a “provocation little short of a declaration of war.”

“The revolutionary forces of the DPRK with its nuclear force as its pivot will fulfill its sacred mission of devotedly defending its supreme leadership representing the destiny and life of its people by dealing a merciless sledge-hammer blow at those daring [to] hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said on Wednesday.

McCain, (R-Ariz.) referred to the roly-poly tyrant when he said China should do more to rein in 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 to MSNBC’s Greta Van Susteren on March 22.

“The service personnel and people of the DPRK are regarding the dignity of their supreme leadership as their life and soul,” the news service said, using the initials for the country’s official name, adding it “will take steps to counter.”

An unmoved McCain tweeted out his response.

“What, did they want me to call him a crazy skinny kid?” he wrote on Wednesday.