Donald Trump’s administration asked Japan’s prime minister Shinzō Abe to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize after he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un met for a historic summit, according to a Japanese newspaper.
Trump boasted Friday during a White House Rose Garden press event that Abe had handed him ‘the most beautiful copy’ of a five-page letter about the nomination but concluded ‘I’ll probably never get it.’
The request came during the fall, months after the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore on June 12, according to the newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
Abe ultimately submitted Trump’s name, citing his efforts to defuse decades-long tensions on the Korean peninsula.
‘He said, “I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize”,’ Trump told reporters on Friday. ‘I said thank you.’
‘Many other people feel that way, too. I’ll probably never get it. That’s okay,’ he said.
It’s unclear how common it is for governments to lobby each others’ leaders for award endorsements.
Trump has made strides in opening talks with North Korea, saying consistently that the hermit kingdom’s belligerence should have been countered by his predecessors.
Last year’s meeting was the first between a sitting American president and a North Korean head of state.
A spokesman for Japan’s Foreign Ministry in Tokyo told Reuters that it was aware of Trump’s remarks but ‘would refrain from commenting on the interaction between the two leaders.’
The Nobel Foundation’s website says a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria, which includes current heads of states.
Under the foundation’s rules, names and other information about unsuccessful nominations cannot be disclosed for 50 years.
The former non-voting secretary of the Nobel Peace Prize committee said in 2015 that members regretted giving the prestigious award to former President Obama in 2009, less than a year into his first term.
Geir Lundestad told the Associated Press that the committee had hoped the prize would strengthen Obama, but instead it was met with ridicule since he hadn’t yet had a significant impact on global affairs.
Trump noted on Friday that “they gave it to Obama.”
“He didn’t even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize. He said, “Oh, what did I get it for?”‘
The surprising anecdote came as he hailed Pyongyang’s ‘tremendous’ economic potential and his ‘great relationship’ with Kim ahead of a second scheduled summit between the two leaders late next week.
Trump also took a second dig at Obama, suggesting his predecessor had been close to going to war with the nuclear-armed state.