SEOUL (dpa-AFX) - A group of 18 Republican members of the US House Of Representatives have nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts to 'end the Korean War, denuclearize the Korean peninsula, and bring peace to the region.'
The letter of nomination was sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee under the leadership of Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana. The other signatories were Rep. Ralph Norman, Rep. Michael Burgess, Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Rep. Kevin Cramer, Del. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa, Rep. Mark Meadows, Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, Rep. David McKinley, Rep. Brian Babin, Rep. Diane Black, Rep. Steve King, Rep. Pete Olson, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Rep. Jim Renacci, Rep. Evan Jenkins, and Rep. Drew Ferguson.
'Since taking office, President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons programs and bring peace to the region. His Administration successfully united the international community, including China, to impose one of the most successful international sanctions regimes in history,' the letter says.
According to the lawmakers, the sanctions decimated the North Korean economy and have been largely credited for bringing North Korea to the negotiating table.
Members of the US Congress are among a set of privileged categories that can submit nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize to the Oslo-based award committee.
In a major diplomatic effort by the Trump administration last month, the then Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to forge a good relationship between the two countries.
The Pompeo-Kim meeting marked the highest-level talks in 18 years between the governments of the two countries that are hostile to each other, mainly over Pyongyang's nuclear ambition.
It fetched results, leading to a major shift of Pyongyang's anti-US attitude. North Korean officials told their US counterparts that Kim Jong Un was willing to discuss denuclearization with Washington, paving the way for an unprecedented historic summit of the leaders of the two countries, which is expected to take place later this spring.
On April 20, North Korea announced it will end its nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile testing programs.
A week later, during a historic ice-breaking summit, the leaders of North Korea and South Korea announced that they will work toward ending the Korean War, seek to reunify their countries, and that they will begin a process to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has consistently praised the US Government's work, and recently said 'President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize.'
Although North Korea has evaded demands from the international community to cease its aggressions for decades, Trump's peace through strength policies are working and bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula, says the letter addressed to Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Senior GOP Senator Lindsey Graham last week said that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for how he handled the situation with North Korea.
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