The United States is ready to discuss the withdrawal of troops from the Korean peninsula with North Korea during the upcoming summit, United States Defense Secretary James Mattis stated. In case Pyongyang demands that Washington pulls out its troops as a condition for a peace agreement, the issue would be discussed with allies as well, especially South Korea, he added.

"That's part of the issues that we'll be discussing in the negotiations with our allies first and, of course, with North Korea," the Defense Secretary Mattis said.

United States and North Korea are set to hold a summit of the highest level in May, to discuss resolving the nuclear arms crisis on the peninsula. US President Donald Trump has demanded that the rogue country must denuclearize and hailed "big progress" following North Korea's announcement that it will stop nuclear tests. Earlier in the week, Mattis said that he expects the negotiations with Pyongyang to be "fruitful."