Two Norwegian lawmakers have nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize following his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore this week.
House Republicans in Washington floated the idea of the President receiving the prize and had sent a letter last month to the Norwegian Nobel Committee requesting the President’s nomination.
Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen of Norway’s right-leaning Progress Party issued the nomination based on the outcome of the Trump-Kim summit, which produced a historic agreement between the two countries.
The nomination would be for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, as this year’s nominations closed in January.
This week, Trump was the first sitting U.S. President to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in arguably one of the most historic moments of the last decade.
The two leaders had on-camera and off-camera face-to-face meetings on the topics of denuclearization and potential future cooperation between the U.S. and North Korea.
The summit ultimately yielded a signed agreement committing to security guarantees for North Korea in exchange for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
After arriving back to the White House, Trump tweeted on Wednesday: “Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!”
Just landed – a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018
While the summit itself was unprecedented, the signed agreement between the two leaders has come under the microscope since the two leaders signed it this week.
Critics suggested that the document may not be clear or specific enough to guarantee complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and stressed the fact that Pyongyang has made such a promise a handful of times before, only to be broken.
Nonetheless, the President’s efforts with North Korea secured a sit-down meeting with Kim Jong Un and have opened a dialogue with the country.
It was only a few months ago that tensions between the President and “Little Rocket Man,” as he has called Kim on Twitter, reached an all-time high, with some were wary of an all-out confrontation stemming from North Korea’s continued nuclear tests.
If confirmed, Trump would be the first American to receive the Nobel Peace Price since then-President Barack Obama in 2009.
Obama received the award for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Vice President Al Gore also received the Peace Prize in 2007 for his efforts on climate change.
