Trump: US troop withdrawal from South Korea is not on the table — for now

President Trump said Friday that he will not offer to remove U.S. troops from South Korea or reduce their presence there during his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. But he left open the possibility of doing so in the future.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump said he was not considering such a move “at this moment" and emphasized that Pyongyang has not asked the United States to do so. “No, no no," Trump said, when asked about a New York Times report that he had instructed the Pentagon to develop options on troop removal.

But Trump added that “at some point in the future, I'd like to save the money" that it costs to base 30,000 troops on the peninsula, a security arrangement that has been in place since the Korean War armistice in 1953.

[These three Americans are detained in North Korea, but Trump has hinted they’ll soon be free]

Trump said a date and location have been decided for the summit with Kim, but he declined to disclose those details, saying they would be announced soon. The president has said that  Singapore and the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea were under consideration, and he has said the summit could take place in late May or early June.

Earlier Friday, National Security Adviser John Bolton called the Times report "utter nonsense."

“The President has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea," Bolton said in a written statement.

Trump had suggested during his campaign that he was open to potentially reduce U.S. troop presence in South Korea and Japan. He has pressed those nations to spend more to support the American troops, leading to fears in Seoul and Tokyo that the United States would shrink its security umbrella. Foreign policy analysts have suggested that one of Kim's goals in his sudden diplomatic initiatives with the South and the United States is to "decouple" the United States from its longtime defense treaty allies in East Asia.

In his remarks to reporters Friday, Trump said his administration is in “constant contact" with North Korean leadership. He said that the administration is having "very substantive talks with North Korea" about three Americans who have been held hostage in that country.

“A lot of things have already happened with regard to the hostages," Trump said. “I think you’re going to be seeing very. very good things.”

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