Opinion | A Nobel Peace Prize for US President Donald Trump is last thing the world needs
It may have just been a throwaway line for President Moon Jae-in in the afterglow of the Korean summit, but many could mistakenly take it literally – Trump among them. If anyone deserves the prize, it’s Moon himself
According to a Reuters report, an official from the presidential Blue House in Seoul said President Moon had made the comment in response to a congratulatory message from Lee Hee Ho, widow of his predecessor Kim Dae-jung.
Perhaps Moon was just being polite and deferential in agreeing with Lee, who broached the subject first. Maybe he also felt he needed to get himself into US President Donald Trump’s good books ahead of tough negotiations with the US over trade and security issues.
After all, as they say, flattery will always get you somewhere, and with this occupant of the White House, everywhere, probably.
But suggesting that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize is more than just feeding his vanity. It is tantamount to rewarding his crude approach to conducting relations with other countries – tearing up or reneging on international agreements which previous American administrations worked painstakingly to secure but which he dislikes, and bulldozing or threatening his way to what he wants.
