Donald Trump has claimed that Japan’s prime minister nominated him for the Nobel peace prize for his work to open up a dialogue with North Korea. At a White House event to discuss his proposed border wall, Trump touched on his upcoming summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam.

The president said early exchanges with Kim were filled with “fire and fury”, but since their first meeting last year the two had established a good relationship. He said: “[Shinzo Abe] gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel prize.

“He said ‘I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel peace prize.”’

The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, who has also credited Trump with starting negotiations with North Korea, has reportedly endorsed him for the prize as well.

In 2009, the then US president Barack Obama received the Nobel peace prize for laying out the US commitment to “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”.

“I’ll probably never get it, but that’s OK,” Trump said. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for.”