A pair of Norwegian lawmakers have nominated President Donald Trump for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize in the wake of his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to multiple reports.
Two members of Norway's right-leaning Progress Party, Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen, nominated Trump just days after he and Kim signed a document in which they committed to working toward the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," according to Norway's state broadcaster, NRK.
"What's happening now is historic," Amundsen told NRK. "A process is underway to ensure world peace in the future. It's a fragile process, but we must of course do what we can to help this process bring good results."
The nomination comes about one month after a group of Republicans in the House of Representatives suggested Trump be nominated for the prize, also for his efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, according to CNN.
Trump has been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize at least twice before, in 2016 and 2017, Bloomberg reported. The Nobel Committee, based in Oslo, typically gets hundreds of recommendations each year from lawmakers, academics and researchers worldwide, according to Bloomberg.
Trump met with Kim for hours Tuesday in Singapore, marking the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
The president hailed the meeting as a success, although critics worried that his decision to meet with Kim provided the autocrat with legitimacy. Kim has been accused of ordering the assassination of his half brother, executing his uncle and presiding over a gulag estimated to hold 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, according to The Associated Press.
Critics also questioned the president’s decision to end the United States’ “war games,” or joint military exercises, with South Korea as negotiations with North Korea continue. It was not immediately clear whether South Korean officials were aware of Trump’s decision before Tuesday’s announcement.
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