HMM: U.S. Troops in South Korea Emerge as Potential Bargaining Chip.

If a peace deal can be struck with Pyongyang, would there be any need for U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula?

The suggestion, once taboo in Washington and Seoul, comes ahead of a planned summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, where some North Korea watchers expect Mr. Kim to raise the idea with the U.S. president.

A fringe minority of peace activists in South Korea has for decades called for the removal of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea, calling them an affront to the country’s sovereignty and an obstacle to peace. That is largely in line with North Korea’s consistent position in calling for their removal.

Generally in South Korea and the U.S., however, the idea of withdrawal or troop reduction has been regarded as a nonstarter. Both the White House and South Korea’s left-leaning Moon Jae-in administration have been careful to underscore the importance of the U.S.-South Korea military alliance for maintaining stability in the region.

On Friday, national security adviser John Bolton joined the Pentagon and South Korea’s presidential office in denying a New York Times report that Mr. Trump had ordered the Pentagon to look into drawing down troops in South Korea.

Even so, the debate has picked up steam in the past week as top advisers and officials in the U.S. and South Korean governments express an openness to the idea.

Disbanding US VII Corps in the wake of our twin victories in the Cold War and the Iraq War, then eventually denuding NATO of heavy American forces, accomplished little but encourage Russian adventurism.