A group of 18 House Republicans has formally nominated President Trump Donald John TrumpCrowley stunner tops huge night for left Trump congratulates Romney on primary win Judge orders Trump admin to begin reuniting immigrant families MORE for the Nobel Peace Prize. 
 
 In a letter sent Wednesday to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the lawmakers tapped Trump for the highly coveted prize for his efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and end the 68-year-old war between North and South Korea. 
 
 "Since taking office, President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region," the letter, led by Rep. Luke Messer Allen (Luke) Lucas MesserRepublicans top Dems at charity golf game Immigration overhaul on life support in the House GOP governors sign letter supporting Nobel Peace Prize for Trump MORE (R-Ind.), reads. 
 
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 "His Administration successfully united the international community, including China, to impose one of the most successful international sanctions regimes in history." 
 
 Messer first announced last week that he planned to nominate Trump for the prize, after a landmark meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. 
 
 In that meeting, the leaders of the rival Koreas agreed to work toward eliminating nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula, and said they would enter into talks with the U.S. to formally end the Korean War. 
 
 Active fighting in the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953. But a formal peace treaty was never signed, leaving the two countries in a perpetual state of war for decades. 
 
 Trump is set to meet with Kim at the end of May or sometime in June, marking the first such encounter between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader in history. 
 
 North Korea has agreed to cease its tests of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles ahead of the meeting, and recently announced that it would shutter a nuclear site in the northern part of the country as a show of good faith. ||||| Sen. Corker: Administration has done a great job putting pressure on North Korea 8:21 AM ET Wed, 2 May 2018 | 03:42 
 
 North Korea's claimed willingness to give up its nuclear ambitions is a "great opportunity" to defuse a major threat in the world, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker told CNBC on Wednesday. But the U.S. needs to be skeptical, he added. 
 
 President Donald Trump and members of his administration did a great job of "bringing people together," including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to put pressure on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Corker said on "Squawk Box." 
 
 The retiring Tennessee Republican, who has had an on-again-off-again relationship with the president, said Trump would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize "if this gets resolved. My gosh, yes." 
 
 Trump's predecessor, former President Barack Obama, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation," according to the Nobel committee. 
 
 Another factor that's helped force Kim's hand after decades of North Korean defiance, according to Corker, was the "sort of left-leaning" South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who wanted to reach out, "instead of a more hawkish leader there." 
 
 Friday's historic summit between Kim and Moon and their pledge for "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" set the stage for Trump's as-yet unscheduled meeting with Kim. 
 
 However, even as things are appearing to line up, Corker warned that the world needs to be skeptical of Kim's overtures and whether he's just making empty promises to get relief from sanctions. 
 
 "Over 25 years, this has happened a number of times. This does look more optimistic than those other times," said Corker, who decided against seeking a third Senate term. "This is a long process, but it's starting out on a very good note." 
 
 Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, the former intelligence director, agreed with Corker, saying Trump and his foreign policy leaders were able to bring Kim to the negotiating table through a multipronged approach. 
 
 "The president squeezing the [North] Koreans, the economic sanctions, the diplomatic isolation, the military demonstrations — check, check, check. My guys would have been in favor of all of that," Hayden told CNBC in a separate interview. He was CIA director during George W. Bush's presidency and NSA director spanning Bill Clinton's and Bush's administrations. 
 
 However, Hayden said he did not view Trump's tweets calling Kim "Rocket Man" and comparing the size of their nuclear buttons as prudent. 
 
 "The tweets last summer to a thirtysomething who has not lived a rich international life — you and I have trouble understanding those tweets — just think of Kim Jong Un. I think those were dangerous and I'm glad they are behind us," Hayden said.
– Republican lawmakers have nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Eighteen House members penned a letter Wednesday to the Nobel Prize Committee praising the president’s efforts to broker peace in the Korean Peninsula, reports the Hill. "President Trump has worked tirelessly to apply maximum pressure on North Korea to end its illicit weapons program and bring peace to the region," the letter says. The lawmakers credit the president for the recent historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which the leaders agreed to rid the Peninsula of nuclear weapons and bring a formal end to the countries’ 68-year-old war. Although the countries entered into an armistice in 1953, they never signed an official peace treaty. If the two countries can resolve their differences, Trump deserves the prize, Sen. Bob Corker told CNBC Wednesday, but the senator issued a caution. The Foreign Relations Committee chair said that North Korea has made several overtures in the last two decades, only to reverse course. In a separate interview with CNBC, retired Gen. Michael Hayden credited progress with North Korea to four things: "The president squeezing the [North] Koreans, the economic sanctions, the diplomatic isolation, the military demonstrations.” He added, though, that Trump's earlier tweets about Kim, in which he famously called him “Rocket Man,” were not helpful. Trump plans to meet with the North Korean leader in the next month or so. If the meeting takes place, it would be the first time a sitting US president has met with a North Korean leader. (South Korean President Moon Jae-in says Trump deserves the prize.)