Moon Jae-in 'very generous' for suggesting my name for Nobel Prize: Trump

United States President Donald Trump, who is apparently in high spirits amid all the Nobel Peace Prize chatter, has said that South Korean President Moon Jae-in was "very generous" to suggest that the former should be bestowed with the prestigious award over his efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

"I just think that President Moon [Jae-in] was very nice when he suggested it. I want to get peace. The main thing, we want to get peace. It was a big problem, and I think it's going to work out well," the Hill reported, Trump as saying, on Tuesday, when asked about his Nobel prospects.

"We'll see. . But I thought it was very generous of President Moon of South Korea to make that statement, and I appreciate it, but the main thing is to get it done. I want to get it done."

The remarks came a day after South Korean President Moon Jae-in lauded the U.S. leader for leading multilateral discussions with North Korea.

"President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize," Moon had remarked.

It is highly likely that Trump could have been nominated for this year's peace prize, which former President Obama won in 2009, according to the report.

Why the Nobel Peace Prize brings little peace

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, an advocacy group that has worked to draw attention to their “catastrophic humanitarian consequences.”

Every year, the winners of the Nobel Prizes are announced to great fanfare. And none receives more scrutiny than the Nobel Peace Prize.
With good reason. The other Nobel Prizes are given to people who have already changed our world – for their remarkable accomplishments. But, in the case of the Nobel Peace Prize, the hope of the Nobel Committee is to change the world through its very conferral. It, therefore, rewards aspiration more than achievement.

Francis Sejersted, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1991-1999, once noted with pride the Nobel Peace Prize’s political ambitions:

“The Committee also takes the possible positive effects of its choices into account [because] … Nobel wanted the Prize to have political effects. Awarding a Peace Prize is, to put it bluntly, a political act.”
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China says awarding Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo was 'blasphemy'

China said today that awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo amounted to "blasphemy" and lodged protests with several countries, including the US, for making "irresponsible statements" on the death of the prominent dissident.

Liu, China's best-known human rights prisoner, died yesterday at age 61 following a battle with liver cancer. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent his last eight years as a prisoner of conscience died at a hospital in Shenyang, China.

He was granted medical parole in June after receiving his diagnosis in prison, but China did not let him seek treatment abroad despite Liu's wishes and international pressure.

Liu's death led to international criticism of China's handling of the issue. The leader of the Norwegian Nobel committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said the Chinese government bore a "heavy responsibility" for Liu's death.

Answering a barrage of questions today over the death of Liu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had lodged protests with "certain countries" for interfering in its "judicial sovereignty".

"Liu is a prisoner who was sentenced to imprisonment in accordance with Chinese law...Conferring the prize to such a person goes against the purposes of this award. It's a blasphemy of the peace prize," Geng said, referring to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Liu in 2010.
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