Trump sets a date with a dictator, as chatter grows about Nobel prize

North Korea’s key ally, China, said Friday it welcomes the progress made by the US and North Korea in setting up next month’s summit between their leaders.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China believes the June 12 meeting in Singapore between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump will “mark an important step” in bringing about denuclearisation, achieving a political settlement to issues on the Korean Peninsula and ensuring regional peace and stability.

“China welcomes the positive progress made by North Korea and the United States in preparing the leaders’ meeting”, Geng told reporters at a regularly scheduled briefing. “We look forward to positive outcomes of the meeting”.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has met twice with Kim in China over the past two months, including a two-day meeting this week, in what is seen as a push to ensure Beijing’s interests are upheld in any settlement between North Korea and the US.

China backed North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War and signed the armistice that stopped the fighting. It has long been the North’s economic lifeline, but trade between the two has plummeted following its implementation of United Nations economic sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Despite that, China has long opposed any measures that could topple Kim’s regime, possibly sending a wave of refugees into its northeast and bringing the prospect of US and South Korean troops on its border.

NOBEL CONTENDER

The announced talks between the two countries has also prompted some to wonder if Trump is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.

“I’ve been talking about this for months,” said Indiana Rep. Luke Messer whose one of 18 Republican lawmakers who penned a letter to Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Berit Reiss-Andersen last week to “respectfully nominate President Donald J. Trump to receive the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize”.