South Korean President Moon Jae-in: Donald Trump Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize

According to a South Korean official, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said U.S. President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the ongoing effort to end the nuclear weapons program in North Korea.

A presidential Blue House official said to media on Monday that Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries that “President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace.”

The South Korean president made his comment upon receiving a message from Lee Hee-ho, late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung‘s widow, commending him for his efforts and saying he should get the prize. In response, Moon named Trump. Kim Dae-jung won the prize in 2000 for orchestrating the first inter-Korean summit with former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Moon also praised the president in January, saying that Trump “deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks” and that they “could be a resulting work of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure.”

The comment comes right on the heels of a pledge between Moon and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to work towards “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula.

Newly-named Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that Trump would keep up a “pressure campaign” of sanctions until North Korea abandons its nuclear weapons program.

UPDATE 12:55 PM: AFP has translated President Moon’s comments thusly: “President Trump can take the Nobel prize. All we need to take is peace.”

[image via screengrab]

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