Donald Trump claims Japan’s prime minister has nominated him for Nobel Peace Prize

President Donald Trump has claimed that Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, has written a “beautiful” letter nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize for opening a dialogue with North Korea. 

Mr Trump made the assertion during a press conference at the White House on Friday in response to a question about his expectations of a second summit with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Vietnam in late February.

Mr Abe gave him “the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize”, Mr Trump said. “He said, ‘I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize’ “.

The Japanese government has not confirmed the president’s claim and the Prime Minister’s Office was not able to comment on Sunday. The Nobel committee has similarly not responded to the president’s comments.

Mr Trump said that his early interactions with the North Korean leader been filled with “fire and fury”, but that the two leaders had got past that stage and had developed a good relationship since their initial summit in Singapore last year.

“I like him a lot and he likes me a lot”, he said.

He said that Mr Abe nominated him for the Nobel in a five-page letter because he was concerned about North Korea launching missiles over Japanese territory. North Korea has not carried out a test of a missile since a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile was launched in November 2017, while its most recent underground nuclear test was in September 2017.

“Now, all of a sudden, they feel good”, Mr Trump said. “They feel safe. I did that”.

He added that the administration of former President Barack Obama “couldn’t have done that” and criticised his predecessor in the White House, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for underlining Washington’s commitment to “the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”.

Mr Trump said Mr Obama had been president for “about 15 seconds” before he was awarded the prize.

“I’ll never get it, but that’s OK”, he said. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for”.