North Gyeongsang Gov. Lee Cheol-woo on Sunday said that US President Donald Trump could win a Nobel Peace Prize if he were to successfully persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which is being held in his province in October.
“If President Trump were to attend the APEC summit and invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Gyeongju, then he could be eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize,” Lee said in an interview on the talk show “Sunday Diagnosis Live” aired on local broadcaster KBS.
He added that he asked Joseph Yun, the interim acting US ambassador to South Korea and former US special representative for North Korea, to deliver his request to Trump.
“President Trump would want to receive a Nobel Peace Prize as a key accomplishment (of his political career) following his second term as president — inviting Kim Jong-un while attending the Gyeongju APEC summit would alleviate the tension on the Korean Peninsula and certainly enable him to win the prize,” he said.
The summit's host city of Gyeongju, which was the capital city of the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla (57 BC-AD 935), would serve as the perfect ground to build the cornerstones for inter-Korean reunification, according to Lee. The Unified Silla Kingdom combined three preexisting Korean kingdoms -- Silla, Baekje and Goguryeo -- and lasted from 668 to 935 CE.
Lee stressed that the success of the upcoming APEC summit depends on the participation of all leaders of the 21 member economies.
Trump has yet to confirm his attendance at the upcoming summit. Lee revealed last month that he sent a handwritten invitation to the US president requesting his attendance.
Lee’s remarks come amid mounting expectations for a potential revival of Trump’s personal diplomacy with the leader of North Korea. Trump recently said he thinks “it’s a very big asset for everybody” that he gets along with Kim, following his first in-person summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba last week. The US president said he plans to reach out to Kim again in a Fox News interview last month.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he was “seriously considering” attending the APEC gathering, in a meeting with Seoul’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik held in China's northeastern city of Harbin last week.
"It is customary for a Chinese leader to attend the APEC summit," Xi said in a meeting that took place on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Winter Asian Games.
mkjung@heraldcorp.com
