Trump: Date, site set for summit

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Friday that the time and place have been set for his landmark meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — but kept the world guessing for now about the when and where.

Trump also said that withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea was “not on the table” as he looks to get Kim to give up his nukes at what will be the first summit between a U.S. and a North Korean leader.

The New York Times reported that Trump has asked the Pentagon to prepare plans for scaling back the U.S. military presence in the allied Asian nation. Some 28,500 U.S. forces are based there, a military presence that has been preserved since the Korean War ended in 1953 without a peace treaty.

North Korea has long sought the removal of those troops as one of its conditions for denuclearization. It remains unclear whether Kim has relaxed that demand as he turns to diplomacy after a year of escalating tensions.

Trump suggested Monday that he was looking for his historic meeting with the North Korean dictator to be held at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. That’s where Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in last Friday — a summit that has paved the way for the U.S. president’s planned face-to-face with Kim.

Trump also said then that the Southeast Asian city state of Singapore was also in the running to play host.

“We now have a date and we have a location. We’ll be announcing it soon,” Trump told reporters Friday.