President Donald Trump said that when he assumed office, he met with Barack Obama in the Oval Office, where the outgoing president revealed that the “biggest problem” was North Korea.
“I don’t want to speak for him, but I believe he would’ve gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war. In fact, he told me he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea”, Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden at the White House.
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By contrast, Trump said, during his presidency, much progress has been made on the issue since his June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
“Where are we now? No missiles, no rockets, no nuclear testing. We’ve learned a lot. But much more importantly than all of it, much more important, much-much more important than that, is, we have a great relationship. I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un”.
The US president further claimed that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to open up a dialogue with North Korea.
“I think I can say this. Prime Minister Abe of Japan gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize. He said ‘I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize’. I said, ‘Thank you’. Many other people feel that way, too”, he said.
The commander-in-chief then said that the reason behind Abe’s decision to send “the most beautiful five-page letter” to the Nobel committee was that the prime minister “had rocket ships and he had missiles flying over Japan, and they had alarms going off – you know that. Now all of the sudden they feel good, they feel safe. I did it”.
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Predicting that he is unlikely to get the award, Trump brought up Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, which he was awarded for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” after spending less than 9 months at the president’s chair:
“I’ll probably never get it, but that’s OK. 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, and he said, ‘Oh, what did I get it for?’”
Trump’s comments have been making the rounds on the internet, with many social media casting doubt on his Nobel Prize story:
…and ridiculed the “rocket ships” flying over Japan:
Some suggested that Trump was jealous of Obama’s presidency:
In light of Trump’s remarks, Ben Rhodes, who served as deputy national security adviser under Obama, tweeted that Washington was not on the verge of war with Pyongyang in 2016:
His message was backed by former CIA Director John Brennan, who told NBC News that Obama was never on the brink of starting any war with North Korea, “large or small”.
Many netizens, however, rushed to POTUS’ defence, with some saying that Trump deserved the award…
…while others said that they believe Trump’s story about Obama’s alleged intentions to unleash a war on North Korea:
In early 2018, two Norwegian lawmakers nominated President Trump for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reaching an agreement on North Korea’s denuclearisation. Even South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in suggested that if accomplished, his efforts would be worthy of the honour.
“I just think that President Moon 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”, Trump said last May when asked about his Nobel prospects.
In wake of his summit with Kim Jong-un, Trump told reporters that “everyone” thought he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, but he “would never say it” because the only reward he really longed for was “victory for the world”.
Kim Jong-un also agreed with President Trump on efforts to promote complete denuclearisation in exchange for potential sanctions relief during the June summit in Singapore. Currently, the two sides are working on a second meeting, which is expected to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 27-28 February.