SEOUL — South Korean President Moon Jae-in said President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean official said Monday.

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.

Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday pledged to end hostilities between the two countries and work towards the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula in the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.

Trump is preparing for his own summit with Kim, which he said would take place in the next three to four weeks.

That upcoming meeting was the main subject of a private walk and chat that Kim and Moon had during their meeting at the border, the official said. </s> If anyone were to win the Nobel Peace Prize for the current effort to solve the North Korean nuclear problem, it should be President Trump. That’s what South Korea’s president said Monday when it was suggested that he himself should be in line for the award.

President Moon Jae-in has gone out of his way to flatter Trump and credit him for creating the environment that has brought about the remarkable diplomatic rapprochement now unfolding.

But even by Moon’s standards, the latest remarks were really something.

They came after Lee Hee-ho, the widow of late South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, sent Moon a message congratulating him for Friday’s summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un.

The day-long summit was filled with warm encounters and ended with a joint declaration from the two sides pledging to bring about a formal end to the Korean War and work toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

[Trump hails ‘historic’ Korea meeting but leaves questions about next step ]

Moon deserves the Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts, Lee wrote in her note.

She would know a thing or two about this. Her husband organized the first inter-Korean summit, in 2000, and won the Nobel Peace Prize for it. Kim Dae-jung’s achievement was rather marred, however, when it emerged that he had arranged for the North Korean leader at the time, Kim Jong Il, to receive $500 million for participating.

Lee traveled to Pyongyang in 2011 for Kim Jong Il’s funeral and met his son Kim Jong Un — briefly — at that time.

Moon told his aides about her note during a meeting Monday. Then he added: “President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. The only thing we need is peace.”

The remark was reported by local media and confirmed by South Korea’s presidential Blue House.



A banner showing President Trump, right, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, center, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is displayed in Seoul on April 27 to support the summit between two Koreas. (Ahn Young-Joon/AP)

Moon’s approval ratings — already defying the South Korean tendency to fall off a cliff the moment a president is elected — have risen further after the summit.

A Realmeter poll conducted over the weekend found that 70 percent of those surveyed approved of the way the president was managing state affairs. Meanwhile, a poll from lesser-known Hangil Research put Moon’s support at an astounding 86 percent. More than 88 percent of the respondents to that survey approved of the joint statement that resulted from Friday’s summit.

At a rally in Michigan on Saturday, Trump demurred when he started talking about North Korea and members of the audience began chanting “Nobel! Nobel!”

“That’s very nice, thank you,” Trump said. “I just want to get the job done.”

But he also again took the credit for bringing North Korea to the table with his “maximum pressure” policy.

One of the “fake news” outlets had asked what Trump had to do with the North Korean talks, the president told the crowd. “I’ll tell you what. Like, how about, everything,” he said.

As Moon tries to get Trump to buy into diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue — and dismiss suggestions that military action might be the answer — he has sought to pass all the credit to Trump.

In January, after Kim Jong Un said he was willing to talk to South Korea, Trump tweeted that this was because he, the American president, had been “firm, strong and willing to commit our total ‘might’ against the North.”

[Talk of peace with North Korea has the South wondering: Will this time be different? ]

Asked a few days later whether this was correct, Moon said it was.

“I give President Trump huge credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks, and I’d like to thank him for that,” Moon said at a New Year’s news conference in Seoul.



It turned out that Trump had asked Moon to credit him publicly for creating the environment for the talks, people familiar with the conversation told The Washington Post at the time.

It’s an approach that has been shared across East Asia.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has flattered Trump at golf games and over burgers, while Chinese President Xi Jinping gave him a welcome in Beijing that was fit for a king.

But Moon particularly needs Trump to feel invested in the nascent efforts to engage the North Korean leader.

Moon hosted Kim on the southern side of the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas on Friday for a summit designed to lay the groundwork for a meeting between Trump and Kim.

The timing and location have not been set, but the meeting is expected to take place in late May or early June.

Moon is set to travel to Washington in mid-May, immediately after a trilateral meeting with Abe and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on May 9, to brief Trump on his own meeting with Kim.

Read more:

Did you hear the one about the North Korean leader, the $100 bill and the trump card?

North Korea promises to dismantle its nuclear test site in public view, South says

Trump makes himself the axis on which events in Asia and Europe spin

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news </s> SEOUL – South Korean President Moon Jae-in said U.S. President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean official said on Monday.

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.

Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday pledged to end hostilities between the two countries and work towards the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula in the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.

READ MORE: Trump could get Nobel Peace Prize nod for progress on North Korea denuclearization

Trump is preparing for his own summit with Kim, which he said would take place in the next three to four weeks.

That upcoming meeting was the main subject of a private walk and chat that Kim and Moon had during their meeting at the border, the official said.

In January, Moon said Trump “deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks. It could be a resulting work of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure.”

Moon’s Nobel Prize comment came in response to a congratulatory message from Lee Hee-ho, the widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, in which she said Moon deserved to win the prize in recognition of his efforts, the Blue House official said.

READ MORE: Kim Jong Un says North Korea will give up nukes if U.S. promises not to attack

Moon responded by saying Trump should get it.

Kim Dae-jung championed the so-called Sunshine policy of engagement with North Korea, and won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize after engineering the first inter-Korean summit with former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

WATCH: U.S. won’t be ‘played’ by North Korea, Trump says



During Monday’s meeting, Moon called for a joint study with the North of economic projects that could be resumed without violating international sanctions imposed on North Korea for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

“The study is to set in motion the programs that are not subject to sanctions, while exploring what the two Koreas could do when the sanctions are lifted in the future,” the official quoted Moon as saying.

READ MORE: Kim Jong Un to close North Korean nuclear test site, unify time zone with South Korea

The Trump administration has led a global effort to impose ever stricter sanctions on North Korea.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that Trump would maintain a “pressure campaign” of harsh sanctions on impoverished North Korea until Kim scraps his nuclear weapon program.

Late Saturday, Trump told Moon in a phone call that he was pleased the leaders of the two Koreas reaffirmed the goal of complete denuclearisation during their summit, South Korean officials said on Sunday.

The White House said Trump and Moon had “emphasized that a peaceful and prosperous future for North Korea is contingent upon its complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.”

A senior adviser to Moon told Reuters last week that the South Korean government had a “comprehensive roadmap” that it was sharing with the United States ahead of Trump’s meeting with Kim. </s> The Latest: S. Korea to remove loudspeakers at border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The Latest on developments in relations between North and South Korea (all times local):

South Korea's president is saying that U.S. President Donald Trump "can take the Nobel prize" as long as the Koreas receive peace in return.

Moon Jae-in made the comment Monday in response to a suggestion by the widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 after a summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The widow said Moon, who met with current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week, should also receive the prize. In the recent summit, Moon and Kim Jong Un walked together across the tense border and agreed to a raft of initiatives meant to ease animosity.

Moon responded that "President Trump can take the Nobel prize. The only thing we need is peace."

South Korea says it will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea.

The announcement came three days after the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to work together to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and end hostile acts against each other along their border during their rare summit talks.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said Monday it will pull back dozens of its frontline loudspeakers on Tuesday.

It says Seoul expects Pyongyang to do the same.

South Korea had turned off its loudspeakers ahead of Friday's summit talks, and North Korea responded by halting its own broadcasts.

Seoul had blasted propaganda messages and K-pop songs from border loudspeakers since the North's fourth nuclear test in early 2016. The North quickly matched the South's action with its own border broadcasts. </s> A group of 18 Republican members of Congress signed their names to a letter formally nominating President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The letter was sent by Rep. Luke Messer of Indiana to the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Wednesday and signed on to by 17 other House GOP members, including Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Diane Black and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Steve King of Iowa to name some.

In the letter, the lawmakers commend Trump for working “tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region.”

“His Administration successfully united the international community, including China, to impose one of the most international sanctions regimes in history,” which “have been largely credited for bringing North Korea to the negotiating table,” they add.

The members note that North Korea announced on April 20 it would end its nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic testing programs.

Seven days later South Korea President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met and signed the Panmunjom Declaration, stating that “there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun.”

The two leaders agreed to work to officially end the Korean War, seek to reunify their countries, and begin a process of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

The GOP lawmakers also highlighted Moon’s remarks on Monday saying Trump should receive the peace prize for his role in bringing the two sides together.

“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize,” Moon reportedly told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to Reuters. “What we need is only peace.”

At a rally in Michigan on Saturday night, the crowd broke out into chants of “Nobel, Nobel, Nobel!” when Trump was discussing the issue of the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The president appeared surprised, amused and perhaps even touched by the sentiment.

“That’s very nice, thank you,” he said. “I just want to get the job done.”

Trump was asked about the prospect of receiving the peace prize on Tuesday and responded Moon “was very nice when he suggested it.”

“I want to get peace. That’s the main thing,” he added.

Fox News reported, “An award would likely be controversial among many peace activists, who would point to Trump’s fiery language toward North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un — whom he dubbed “rocket man” and warned was on a “suicide mission for himself” in 2017.”

The news outlet added, “But supporters say that Trump’s tactics were part of a ‘peace through strength’ approach of the kind that proved successful for President Ronald Reagan when he faced down the Soviet Union.”

“The peace through strength approach to national security is delivering results, not just in North Korea,” Messer said. “ISIS is on the run and I think the world is waking up to the fact that there’s a new sheriff in town and the world’s most important leader today is Donald Trump.”

What do you think? Scroll down to comment below. </s> SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of - South Korean President Moon Jae-in has shaken off a suggestion that he receive the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump “can take the Nobel prize” as long as the Koreas receive peace in return.

Moon made the comment Monday in response to a suggestion that he receive the award by the widow of late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 after a summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Moon held a summit with current leader Kim Jong Un last week in which Moon and Kim, the son of Kim Jong Il, walked together across the tense border and agreed to a raft of initiatives meant to ease animosity. Moon responded to the suggestion of Nobel glory by saying, “President Trump can take the Nobel prize. The only thing we need is peace,” according to the South's presidential office.

South Korea also said Monday that it will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea this week as the rivals move to follow through with their leaders' summit declaration that produced reconciliation steps without a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff.

During their historic meeting Friday at a Korean border village, Kim and Moon agreed to end hostile acts against each other along their tense border, establish a liaison office and resume reunions of separated families. They also agreed to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, but failed to produce specific time frames and disarmament steps.

Seoul's Defence Ministry said it would pull back dozens of its front-line loudspeakers on Tuesday before media cameras. Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo said Seoul expected North Korea to do the same.

South Korea had already turned off its loudspeakers ahead of Friday's summit talks, and North Korea responded by halting its own broadcasts.

The two Koreas had been engaged in Cold War-era psychological warfare since the North's fourth nuclear test in early 2016. Seoul began blaring anti-North Korean broadcasts and K-Pop songs via border loudspeakers, and North Korea quickly matched the action with its own border broadcasts and launches of balloons carrying anti-South leaflets.

Seoul's announcement came a day after it said Kim told Moon during the summit that he would shut down his country's only known nuclear testing site and allow outside experts and journalists to watch the process.

South Korean officials also cited Kim as saying he would be willing to give up his nuclear programs if the United States commits to a formal end to the Korean War and a pledge not to attack the North. Kim had already suspended his nuclear and missile tests while offering to put his nuclear weapons up for negotiations.

The closing of the Punggy-ri test site, where all six of North Korea's atomic bomb tests occurred, could be an eye-catching disarmament step by North Korea. But there is still deep skepticism over whether Kim is truly willing to negotiate away the nuclear weapons that his country has built after decades of struggle.

According to a summit accord, Kim and Moon agreed to achieve “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization,” rather than clearly stating “a nuclear-free North Korea.” North Korea has long said the term “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” must include the United States pulling its 28,500 troops out of South Korea and removing its so-called “nuclear umbrella” security commitment to South Korea and Japan.

Kim could offer more disarmament concessions during his meeting with Trump, expected in May or June, but it's unclear what specific steps he would take. Some experts say Kim may announce scraping North Korea's long-range missile program, which has posed a direct threat to the United States.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton reacted coolly to word that Kim would abandon his weapons if the United States pledged not to invade.

Asked on CBS's “Face the Nation” whether the U.S. would make such a promise, Bolton said: “Well, we've heard this before. This is - the North Korean propaganda playbook is an infinitely rich resource. What we want to see from them is evidence that it's real and not just rhetoric.”

Kim's meeting with Moon was his second summit with a foreign leader since he took office in late 2011. In March, he travelled to Beijing and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While meeting with Xi, Kim suggested he prefers a step-by-step disarmament process in line with corresponding outside rewards, according to Chinese state media. U.S. officials want the North to take complete, verifiable and irreversible disarmament measures.

China said Monday that its foreign minister, Wang Yi, will visit Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, on Wednesday and Thursday.

China is North Korea's only major economic partner, but trade has declined by about 90 per cent following Beijing's implementation of economic sanctions imposed over the North's nuclear and missile tests. Some analysts say Kim's recent charm offensive was aimed at weakening the sanctions.

Also on Monday, the North's parliament adopted a decree to sync its time zone with South Korea's this Saturday. North Korea's official news agency said the move was made at the proposal of Kim, who found it was “a painful wrench to see two clocks indicating Pyongyang and Seoul times hanging on a wall of the summit venue.”

Moon's office said Sunday that Kim made similar remarks to Moon during the summit.

The North in 2015 had set its clocks 30 minutes behind South Korea and Japan, saying the measure was aimed at rooting out the legacy of Tokyo's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. </s> United States President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for starting dialogue with North Korea.

Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump claimed Abe had given him “the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize”.

“He [Abe] said, ‘I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize,’” said Trump, responding to a query on his summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“Many other people feel that way, too,” Trump said. “I’ll probably never get it. But that’s OK.”

Trump and Kim will hold a second summit in Hanoi on February 27 and 28. The two leaders had met for the first time in June last year in Singapore for a historic summit, following which Kim committed to the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump on Friday also complained that he would never get the Nobel Peace Prize despite his work in North Korea and warring Syria, Reuters reported.

Trump claimed that former President Barack Obama, who was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, had no idea why he was honoured. “He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize. He said, ‘Oh, what did I get it for?’” Trump said. “With me, I probably will never get it.”

Obama was given the award for laying out the US commitment to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”.

Trump claimed that he had saved three million people living in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib region from being killed after threatening Russia, Iran and the Syrian government against a planned offensive. “Nobody talks about that,” he said. </s> SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in told U.S. President Donald Trump in a call on Tuesday that his country is willing to open economic engagement with North Korea as a “concession” if it will hasten Pyongyang’s denuclearization, Moon’s office said.

Trump is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam next week for a second summit aimed at enticing Kim to follow through on his pledge to abandon nuclear weapons.

Since Trump and Kim first met in June last year, there has been little progress in talks between the two countries, while Moon and Kim have forged ahead with multiple summits of their own, as well as promises of inter-Korean cooperation on everything from reducing border tensions to launching a joint bid for the 2032 Olympics.

But plans for economic projects, such as linking railways, reopening a joint industrial center, and allowing South Korean tourists to visit the North, have been on hold while the United States opposed loosening sanctions until more progress is made on denuclearization.

Moon asked Trump to make use of South Korea’s role as a “concession” to expedite North Korea’s denuclearization, saying he was ready to undertake anything from reconnecting rail and road links between the two Koreas to other inter-Korean economic cooperation, according to a statement from Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.

Read More: Two Koreas’ leaders in mountain show of unity

“We’re determined to take up that role if President Trump asks, if that’s the way to lessen the U.S. burden,” Moon said.

Moon said it was Trump’s “leadership and firm resolve” that had brought difficult negotiations with North Korea thus far, as well as progress in inter-Korean ties, according to the statement.

He “expressed his respect” to Trump who is “exploring a diplomatic strategy to achieve denuclearization and a lasting peace regime on the peninsula, overcoming diplomatic failures over the past 25 years that did not accomplish any outcome through negotiations but only strengthened North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities,” the spokesman said.

Moon’s praise echoes Trump’s own assessment of his efforts, given in a Rose Garden news conference on Friday in which he made the case that he deserves to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on North Korea and Syria, but complained he probably would never get the honor.

In the past, Moon has said that Trump deserves the prize for engaging with Kim Jong Un directly, in a way no other American president has.

During Tuesday’s call, Trump briefed Moon on preparations for the upcoming summit, and said he would brief the South Koreans on the results, including in a future meeting with Moon, the Blue House said. </s> North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hugs South Korean President Moon Jae-in after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom. Picture: Korea Summit Press Pool/AP Trump likes DMZ for Kim summit venue

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hugs South Korean President Moon Jae-in after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom. Picture: Korea Summit Press Pool/AP Trump likes DMZ for Kim summit venue

NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong-un has gone from ridiculed international pariah to smiling diplomat in the space of just months.

However analysts warn the West is being played and United States President Donald Trump is being manipulated into giving Kim exactly what he wants.

Just days after the historic inter-Korean summit, the first in more than a decade, questions remain around the most contentious agenda item of them all: denuclearisation.

It also puts the ball squarely in the court of Mr Trump, whose much-anticipated summit with Kim is just weeks away.

While calls grow for Mr Trump to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing Kim to the negotiating table, analysts suggest Kim is playing for time and appealing to the US President's vanity.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who made negotiating with the North a key goal, has called the for the US President to be awarded the prestigious prize.

"President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace," Mr Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries.

The comments came as the South Korean leader deflected a question about whether he might win the award as one of his predecessors, Kim Dae-jung, did in 2000 after the first ever inter-Korean summit with then-leader Kim Jong-il.

The Koreas pledged to seek a formal end this year to the Korean War - a conflict that was halted in 1953 by an armistice and not a peace treaty, meaning the two sides are technically still at war. They also committed to eradicating nuclear weapons from the peninsula.

During a campaign-style rally in Michigan on Saturday, Mr Trump told supporters his critics used to say he would drag the world into nuclear war.

The US leader has been eager to play up his role in achieving a breakthrough with Pyongyang through his "maximum pressure" campaign involving tough rhetoric, stronger sanctions and diplomatic efforts to further isolate the regime.

Mr Trump's tone marks a huge change with the President only months ago calling his North Korean counterpart "Little Rocket Man".

Kim last year sent tensions soaring with a series of intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests.

During his maiden address to the United Nations in September, Mr Trump lashed out at Kim mocking him and escalating the war of words between the two.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho in turn branded Mr Trump "a mentally deranged person full of megalomania" and warned a strike against the US mainland was "inevitable".

Malcolm Davis, senior analyst in defence strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told news.com.au Kim is both opportunistic and manipulative by making easy concessions designed to entice Mr Trump to rush into a summit.

"He recognises he can play for time because his nuclear and missile technologies are sufficiently advanced that he can afford to offer a testing freeze for both," Dr Davis said.

"Plus the Punggye-ri (nuclear test) site suffered severe damage in the last test - whether other tunnels are operational is uncertain, but an offer to freeze testing can be reversed quickly if in fact they are operational."

While the inter-Korean summit offered many promises but little substance, Dr Davis said its apparent success made it harder for Mr Trump to say no to meeting Kim, adding that Mr Moon appears ready to rush towards a deal.

"They are pushing for peace and then denuclearisation," he said.

"So peace might be a peace treaty being signed, that would include lifting of sanctions, economic assistance to the North, security guarantees, and ultimately reduction or elimination of US forces and the lifting of the US nuclear umbrella to Korea. Then the North will denuclearise. Maybe."

While Mr Moon and Mr Trump may like the sound of a Nobel Peace Prize, the reality was "cooler heads will prevail" from within the US administration who will want concrete and meaningful steps towards real denuclearisation before further concessions are made.

"The US will insist on CVID - complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation - according to (National Security Adviser John) Bolton and the key challenge will be getting Trump to insist on that," Dr Davis said.

He said he remained sceptical that this diplomatic process is really going to lead to a peaceful outcome.

John Blaxland, Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies and director of ANU's Southeast Asia Institute, said it was clear Kim was playing a game by "appealing to Trump's extraordinary vanity".

He also said it is Kim who is largely driving the agenda.

"Most pundits agree that Kim's determination to refine his nuclear weapons and ICBM capabilities has raised the stakes to a level not witnessed at times of earlier moments of hope, when North Korea joined with others to talk about the prospects of peace and reconciliation," Prof Blaxland said.

"It is these raised stakes that have so captivated Trump's attention, driving him obsessively to focus on brinkmanship on the Korean Peninsula."

Prof Blaxland said Mr Trump's drive and determination is undoubtedly a factor in bringing the crisis to the cusp of a groundbreaking resolution of what has seemed an interminable conflict.

"He knows Kim plays with a weak hand. Other than in terms of its nuclear weapons and massed Army, North Korea is a basket case," he said.

"Kim also knows that Trump's threats of 'fire and fury' are more plausible under his administration than has been the case for generations. So both Trump and Kim seem to be capitalising on the extraordinary confluence of events."

However Prof Blaxland said it is Kim in the driving seat.

"Kim has driven the agenda, accelerating the weapons development programs, brushing off sanctions, stealing the limelight at the Winter Olympics, striking a yet to be fully disclosed bargain with China's President Xi Jinping and positioning himself as the linchpin and focal point for global aspirations with his summitry," he said.

"Mindful of the confluence of factors, big egos, grand ambitions and high stakes, South Korea's President has joined in the euphoria to effusively talk about President Trump meriting being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This is undoubtedly a move that will endear Moon to Trump and probably goes some way to explain why Moon made the statement.

"Moon has to carefully manage what Trump might do next, mindful of his earlier wariness about American commitments abroad."

Prof Blaxland said everyone needed to keep their feet firmly on the ground given the stakes are high and pointed out the best we could hope for is a de-escalation, a scaling back of tensions and a measured and considered path to incremental reconciliation.

New York-based Park Strategies senior vice president Sean King, an expert on Asian politics, stopped short of calling Kim clever but said he was cunning and evil.

While Mr Moon was playing to Mr Trump's ego, he didn't think Kim was doing that just yet and questioned Kim's intentions.

"Nobody really knows why Kim's reaching out now and whoever actually does know isn't talking," Mr King said.

"The rest of us, myself included, are all just guessing and theorising the best we can."

Mr King suggested four key scenarios as to why Kim was reaching out to the West including that he feels emboldened enough, now that he has ICBMs, to reach out and is in desperate need of sanctions being lifted.

He said Kim could be wanting to make some kind of symbolic splash given it was his country's 70th anniversary this year and went onto to suggest a fourth reason.

"He senses a rare opportunity, as he's been dealt the unique combination of a liberal South Korean president and a US president who openly questions America's alliances," he said.

"Kim could think now's his chance to split the US and South Korean alliance once for all."
South Korean president Moon Jae-in suggests that U.S. president Donald Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to help denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.