Trump calls Norway's Nobel Peace Prize decision a “disgrace”

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Norway over the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking at a campaign rally in Syracuse, he called the decision “disgraceful” and said it was an “indelible stain” on Norway and the people who made it.

According to Reuters, Trump listed the conflicts he says he has managed to settle. He claimed, among other things, that he helped prevent wars between North and South Korea, between Japan and North Korea, and between China and Taiwan.

“A handful of radical ideologues, anti-democrats and true enemies of civilization has discredited the Nobel Peace Prize forever. And we will not forget this, Norway,” the American president said.

Who the laureate is

The laureate is an 85-year-old South African lawyer of Indian descent. She defended Nelson Mandela and other politicians who fought apartheid, and later became the first non-white judge of South Africa's Supreme Court. After working at the international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, she now sits on the International Court of Justice, where she is hearing the case on alleged genocide by Myanmar's authorities.

Trump, however, said he did not know who she was. “I never heard of this person. Neither did anyone else,” he said. According to the Associated Press, he added that the prize should have gone to him, not to a “liberal working for the UN”.

Not the first dispute with the committee

Trump also criticized the Nobel Committee last year, when the prize went to Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado. She later gave Trump her gold Nobel medal in an attempt to win his support in the fight for a democratic Venezuela. Even so, the American leader chose to work with the current president, Delcy Rodríguez, who came to power after Nicolás Maduro was captured by US special forces in early January.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz