The White House on Friday issued a statement rejecting New York Times story that claimed that President Donald Trump’s administration was in talks with South Korea over the possibility of reducing the size of the U.S. forces stationed on the Korean Peninsula.
A statement issued from the newly-appointed national security adviser John Bolton calls the Times report “utter nonsense” and insists the Pentagon is not in talks to reduce the size of the U.S.’s force in Korea, the Washington Times reported.
“The New York Times story is utter nonsense. The President has not asked the Pentagon to provide options for reducing American forces stationed in South Korea,” Bolton says.
However, late Thursday the Times reported that President Trump had asked the Pentagon for options for troop withdrawals on the Korean Peninsula, a move that the Times warned could cause tensions with neighboring Japan, which relies on the U.S. in part for defense.
Trump is scheduled to meet with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un at the end of this month or the beginning of June, which will mark the first meeting between a U.S. president and a North Korean leader. The meeting is part of the negotiations of the possibility of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
Meanwhile, North Korea has reportedly already agreed to halt its provocative missile tests ahead of the meeting, which Trump has suggested to take place in a border village between North and South Korea.
But any potential summit between the U.S. and North Korea will probably have to involve the large U.S. force stationed in that area, which regularly conducts war exercises with South Korean forces simulating an attack on North Korea.
The U.S. currently has roughly 28,000 soldiers stationed on the Korean Peninsula, where U.S. forces have supported South Korea since the end of the conflict in the Korean War decades ago.
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