Trump’s eagerness for a deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has raised fears at the Pentagon and among Asian allies that he may agree to shrink the longtime U. S. military presence in South Korea in return for Kim’s concessions on his nuclear arsenal. White House denials
President Trump said Friday that he hopes to eventually withdraw U. S. troops from South Korea but would not use a pullout as a bargaining chip when he meets with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un seeking a deal to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.
“At some point into the future, I would like to save the money” it costs to keep up to 32,000 American troops in South Korea, Trump told reporters on Air Force One. He added that a withdrawal will not be on the table at the first planned U. S.-North Korean summit after more than six decades of hostility.
U. S. and North Korean officials have agreed on a date and location for the nuclear summit, Trump said, promising to announce the details shortly. The White House said South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit the White House on May 22, so the summit is unlikely before then.
Trump’s vow not to immediately offer a U. S. withdrawal, a long-standing demand by Pyongyang, may be aimed at easing concerns among his military advisors and U. S. allies in the region that, in his eagerness for a deal, Trump would bargain away a cornerstone of U. S. security strategy in northeast Asia.
But Trump only added to the uncertainty Friday by repeating his previous vows to bring at least some U. S. troops home from South Korea because he considers the deployment a costly waste. His comments came after weeks of conflicting signals from administration officials, including reports that Trump’s aides had to talk him out of ordering a major withdrawal from Korea.
The topic is so sensitive that John Bolton, Trump’s national security advisor, denounced as “utter nonsense” a New York Times story Friday that said Trump had asked the Pentagon for withdrawal options.
Like Trump, Pentagon officials have given conflicting statements about a possible drawdown of U. S. troops from the region.
Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said last week that troop levels “was one of the issues we’ll be discussing” with allies and with Pyongyang if North and South Korea sign a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War, which halted in 1953 with a tense cease-fire.
In a statement Friday, Lt. Col Christopher B. Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said the mission in South Korea “remains the same and our force posture has not changed.” He said the Defense Department is “developing and maintaining military options for the president, and reinforcing our ironclad security commitment with our allies. We all remain committed to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The U. S. has stationed troops in South Korea since the Korean War.
