PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

President Trump's claim that Abe had sent him a ''beautiful copy'' of a letter sent to the Nobel committee could not immediately be verified.

The government's top spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, echoed Abe's remarks in refusing further comment.

THE Japanese newspaper Ashai Shimbun reported Sunday, citing unidentified government sources that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated Trump at the US president's request.

Former US President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, his very first year in office, for laying out a US commitment to ''seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.''

Trump complained Friday that Obama was there ''for about 15 seconds'' before he was awarded the prize.

The deadline each year for nominations is midnight, Jan. 31.

According to the website of the Nobel committee, there are 304 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019. It said 219 are individuals and 85 are organizations.

Trump's landmark June 2018 summit with Kim in Singapore was replete with pomp but thin on substance.

The president's comments Friday drew speculation that South Korean President Moon Jae-in might have been the one who nominated the president.

Kim Eui-kyeom, Moon's spokesman, said he had not, and that he was unlikely to do so.

But Kim said Moon believed Trump has ''sufficient qualifications to win the Nobel Peace Prize'' for his work toward peace between North and South Korea, which have yet to sign a peace treaty after their 1950-53 war. [Agencies].