Nobel peace prize for Trump?: Russian senator says US taking undue credit for Korean deal
A Russian senator has described calls to award Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the Korean peace deal as an attempt by the US to take credit for the resolution of a conflict that it had been stoking for decades.
“I see this as an attempt to make the United States an exceptional and only contributor to the ‘Korean turnaround.’ Of course this is not true. If the US has ever played any exceptional role it was their role in provoking tensions on the Korean peninsula and constant provocations aimed against DPRK,” the Chair of the Russian Upper House Committee for International Relations Senator Konstantin Kosachev told TASS on Saturday.
Kosachev added that he was convinced that the North Korean nuclear program had been launched as a reply to numerous hostile actions by the US and that the latest news of looming settlement were a result of a collective effort by many nations, including significant contributions from Russia and China.
Kosachev also noted that the proposed nomination of Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize was akin handing the award to Barack Obama in 2009.
The Russian senator’s statement came soon after US Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted that US President Donald Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize if he manages to successfully negotiate the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “Donald Trump convinced North Korea and China he was serious about bringing about change. We’re not there yet, but if this happens, President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize,” Graham tweeted.
Donald Trump convinced North Korea and China he was serious about bringing about change. We're not there yet, but if this happens, President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. https://t.co/XlXWRp2TrI
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 27, 2018
Earlier this week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon held a first-ever peace summit after which both leaders pledged to end the Korean war - formally ongoing but in a state of ceasefire since 1953 - and work to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
President Donald Trump described the meeting as a “historic event” and a “good thing” and also praised the role of China’s President Xi Jinping in making it possible.
