(2nd LD) Pres. Lee congratulates Obama on winning Nobel Peace Prize

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details, background from 5th para)
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Saturday
congratulated U.S. President Barack Obama on winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize,
saying he will cooperate with Obama in global peace-making.

"President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize indicates the global community's
strong support for his vision for the world without nuclear arms and overcoming
global challenges of our time," Lee said in a message sent from Beijing. Lee
departed for China earlier in the day for summit talks with leaders of China and
Japan.
Lee said he shares Obama's visions and will continue to cooperate with him.
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to
strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the
Norwegian Nobel Committee said, highlighting his efforts to denuclearize the
world and ease tensions in the Middle East.
In Washington, Obama was awakened early in the morning by his press secretary,
Robert Gibbs, and hastily arranged a speech in the White House Rose Garden to
express his surprise and humility.
"I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel committee,"
Obama said. "To be honest, I do not feel I deserve to be in the company of so
many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize."
Obama is the fourth U.S. president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, after Jimmy
Carter in 2002, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
Carter won the prize after more than 20 years of efforts for peace in the Middle
East and humanitarian efforts after he left the White House. Wilson was cited for
helping to establish the League of Nations and Roosevelt for his role in
terminating the war between Japan and Russia.
"Let me be clear. I do not view it a recognition of my own accomplishments but
rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by
people in all nations," Obama said, apparently responding to the criticism that
he has yet to achieve enough compared with other awardees who fought or even
sacrificed their lives for human rights and peace for decades.
The Heritage Foundation denounced what it views as the politicization of the
award, saying, "Dissident leaders in China, Zimbabwe, Cuba and other
dictatorships are passed over despite substantial achievements and not just hope
for things to come."
In a statement, the conservative think tank said, "It is clear to everyone that
in recent years, the Nobel Prize has taken on a form of a political football that
Europeans are able to lob into U.S. domestic politics when they desire to."
Former Vice President Al Gore was given the award in 2007 for his contribution to
environmental activism against global warming, in an apparent effort by the Nobel
Committee to counter the George W. Bush administration's decision to abandon the
Kyoto Protocol to reduce green house gas emissions.
"The Nobel Peace Prize is not the Nobel Intentions Prize," the foundation said.
"The Nobel Prize committee should have given President Obama the opportunity to
meet these weighty expectations rather than diminish past achievements with a
public relations award."
In Oslo, Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said the committee took note
of Obama's efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world, head off climate change,
reach out to the Muslim world and abandon unilateralism in diplomacy.
"We have not given the prize for what may happen in the future," he said. "We are
awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may
contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do."
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