Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his chief spokesman declined on Monday to say if Mr. Abe had nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, though they praised Mr. Trump for dealings with North Korea.
Questioned in parliament about reports he had done so, Mr. Abe said: “In light of the Nobel Committee’s policy of not disclosing recommenders and nominees for 50 years, I decline to comment.”
Neither the prime minister nor his spokesman denied Mr. Trump’s comment to reporters on Friday that Mr. Abe had nominated him. Mr. Trump said Mr. Abe had sent him a “beautiful copy” of a letter sent to the Nobel committee.
Mr. Trump’s claim could not be immediately verified.
Mr. Abe praised Mr. Trump on Monday in a lower house budget committee meeting.
“President Trump has been decisively responding toward resolving North Korea’s nuclear and missile problems, and last year he held historic U.S.-North Korea summit talks,” he said.
Mr. Abe added that Mr. Trump had also passed on to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Japan’s own concerns about abductions of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang, saying “he and the entire White House also actively cooperated in resolving the issue.
“I highly praise President Trump’s leadership,” Mr. Abe said.
The government’s top spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, echoed Mr. Abe in telling reporters that Japan valued Mr. Trump’s efforts on North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, but also refused other comment.
The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Sunday, citing unnamed government sources, that Mr. Abe nominated Mr. Trump’s at the President’s request.
Former President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, his first year in office, for laying out the U.S. commitment to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
Mr. Trump complained on Friday that Mr. 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.
The U.S. is Japan’s ally and anchor for national defense and Mr. Abe has assiduously cultivated cordial ties with Mr. Trump. He was the first foreign leader to meet Mr. Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Trump’s landmark June 2018 summit with Mr. Kim in Singapore was replete with pomp but thin on substance.
Mr. Abe personally has a large political stake in making progress on resolving the abductions issue with North Korea, an important issue for his nationalist political base.
The Nobel Committee chooses the recipient of the prize in early October by a majority vote and then announces that choice. The prize is awarded on Dec. 10, in Oslo, Norway.