U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ.) provided perhaps the most pointed criticism of the now deceased North Korea dictator Kim Jong Il.
Speaking Monday, Mr. McCain summed up his death, saying that the former isolationist dictator will join the likes of “Qaddafi, Bin Laden, Hitler, and Stalin in a warm corner of hell.”
Mr. Jong Il reportedly died of a heart attack on Saturday during a train ride, at 69 years old his death ended his 14 plus year reign over North Korea’s Korean Workers Party.
“The world is a better place now that Kim Jong-il is no longer in it,” said Mr. McCain on Monday. “For more than six decades, people in North Korea have been consigned to lives of dire poverty and cruel oppression under one of the most totalitarian regimes the world has ever known. I can only express satisfaction that the Dear Leader is joining the likes of Qaddafi, Bin Laden, Hitler, and Stalin in a warm corner of hell.”
Like the rest of the U.S. political consortium, Mr. McCain also contemplated the future of U.S. and Korea relations following the death of Mr. Jong Il.
The U.S. currently has over 20,000 troops stationed in South Korea, facing the North, where North Korea maintains an army of over 1 million troops, one of the largest armies in the world.
Mr. McCain believes the death of Mr. Jong Il presents a “historic” opportunity for the U.S. to play an active role along with China in helping to reshape North Korea under a peaceful new regime.
Mr. Jong Il’s son, Kim Jong Un, is reportedly going to be his successor, but at this time it is unknown exactly what his role will be.
“The death of Kim Jong-il is a historic opportunity to end the long suffering of Koreans in the north and to deepen the security of Northeast Asia and the world,” the Arizona senator stated Monday.
“China should work in concert with the United States and our allies to shape a peaceful transition to a unified, democratic, and independent Korean Peninsula, which will be far more stable and beneficial for China and the world than a totalitarian North Korea ever was or will be,” Mr. McCain added.
