Trump Says He Has No Plans to Pull Troops From South Korea

Statement comes amid feud between Washington and Seoul over cost-sharing accord for U.S. military

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will get together for another summit meeting this month. Will the North Koreans agree to get rid of all their nuclear weapons? Gerald Seib reports. Photo: Getty

Warren P. Strobel in Washington and

Timothy W. Martin in Seoul

Updated Feb. 3, 2019 4:54 p.m. ET

President Trump said Sunday he has no plans to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea, potentially assuaging worries in Seoul as Mr. Trump’s end-of-the-month summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un approaches.

“I have no plans, I’ve never even discussed removing them,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program. The U.S. president repeated his complaint that maintaining what he said are 40,000 U.S. forces in South Korea—the actual number is about 28,500—is “very expensive.”

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