Trump: ‘They won’t give me the Nobel Peace Prize… I will take control of Greenland’

It has been reported that U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter to Norway’s prime minister linking his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize to a rationale for taking control of Greenland.

According to Bloomberg and other outlets on the 19th, President Trump wrote in a letter sent the previous day to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, “I stopped more than eight wars, yet they decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize, so I no longer feel an obligation to think purely about ‘peace.’”

Trump added, “Peace is important, but now I can think about what is good and appropriate for the United States,” and argued that “the world is not safe unless we have complete and total control over Greenland.”

The remarks are being interpreted as an attempt to argue that the United States should assume control over Greenland because Trump was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year. However, it is the Nobel Committee—not the Norwegian government—that decides the prize.

In an interview with local media outlet VG that day, Prime Minister Støre also confirmed he received Trump’s letter, saying, “I clearly explained to President Trump that the Nobel Prize is awarded by the Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government.” Støre said the letter he sent to Trump conveyed opposition to the “Greenland tariffs” Trump has warned he would impose on eight European countries, and requested a three-way phone call.

In the letter, Trump questioned Denmark’s rights over Greenland, asking, “Why do they have ‘ownership’?” He claimed, “There is no documented evidence—only that a single ship docked there hundreds of years ago, and our ships have docked there as well.” Trump also said of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), “I have done more than anyone since NATO was founded,” adding, “Now NATO needs to do something for the United States.”

Reporter Ahn Sang-mi saramin@hankyung.com