Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 1, 2018
A Trump Nobel Peace Prize? South KoreaÕs Leader Likes the Idea
Several months ago, South Koreans considered President Trump as dangerous as North KoreaÕs leader, Kim Jong-un, as the two traded threats of nuclear annihilation.
Now, commentators and others in Seoul think Mr. Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for helping start the unexpected peace process Êunfolding on the divided Korean Peninsula. On Monday, South KoreaÕs president, Moon Jae-in, said he felt the same.
Mr. MoonÕs endorsement of a Nobel for Mr. Trump, who has faced one ethical scandal after another at home, came as the South Korean leader presided over a meeting of his senior presidential staff on Monday. During the meeting, Mr. Moon received a telegram from Lee Hee-ho, a former first lady of South Korea, congratulating him for a successful summit meeting with Mr. Kim on Friday and wishing him a Nobel Peace Prize.
ÒItÕs really President Trump who should receive it; we can just take peace,Ó Mr. Moon was quoted by his office as saying.
In recent months, Mr. Moon and his senior aides have repeatedly thanked Mr. Trump for making a rapprochement between the Koreas possible. Mr. TrumpÕs Òmaximum pressureÓ approach of tightening the noose around the North with economic sanctions and military threats was largely responsible for forcing Mr. Kim to the negotiating table, they said.
If they were genuinely grateful to Mr. Trump, they were also seen as stoking the ego of the impulsive American leader so that he would continue to support South KoreaÕs efforts to resolve the North Korean crisis through dialogue. (Source: NYT)Êhttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/30/world/asia/trump-nobel-peace-prize-korea.html
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