President Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize if anyone gets the award for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Monday.
“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. All we need is to bring peace,” Moon said, according to the Blue House, Seoul’s equivalent of the White House.
Moon made the comment after reading a message from Lee Hee-ho, the widow of late South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, congratulating Moon for Friday’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, The Korea Timesreported.
Lee’s note suggested that Moon should be awarded the prestigious prize, but Moon said Trump deserves the honor, according to the Blue House.
Lee’s husband, who was president from 1998 to 2003, is the nation’s sole Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He won the prestigious award for his own historic summit with North Korea in 2000. He met with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the deceased father of Kim Jong Un.
The idea of Trump claiming the prize was raised at home as well. At a rally Saturday in Michigan, Trump discussed Korea and was interrupted by a chant of “Nobel! Nobel!”
Trump has said he expects to meet with Kim Jong Un in the next few weeks. On Monday he suggested a site.
“Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING,” Trump tweeted. “But would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!”
Moon and Kim agreed to work on a plan to formally end the Korean War that has essentially been on hold since 1953. Moon also said Kim agreed to shut down the North’s nuclear test facility in May and allow unprecedented access to the site by security experts and even Western journalists.
Still, details of denuclearization remain to be worked out. Experts caution that Kim in the past has loosely referred to “denuclearization” as freezing and keeping current programs in place. That would fall short of the actions that Trump demands — and thus would not lead to the relief Kiim seeks from bruising economic sanctions that have hamstrung growth in the secretive nation of 25 million people.
Trump was upbeat about the possibilities for a deal after speaking with Moon on Saturday, tweeting that “things are going very well.”
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