MILITARY/NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The US and South Korea have reached a preliminary agreement on the cost of keeping nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea, two State Department officials said, alleviating fears among President Donald Trump’s advisers that he could move to withdraw US troops during his upcoming summit with North Korea’s leader. Under the revised Special Measures Agreement, South Korea would boost its financial contribution to nearly $1 billion, according to a State Department official and South Korean media. That’s an increase on the about $800 million South Korea had been paying per year during the previous five-year commitment. The most recent agreement lapsed at the end of last year. Since then, Trump had been pressuring South Korea to double its financial support to $1.6 billion, making some of his own administration officials worry that the President might offer to withdraw US forces from South Korea during his second summit with Kim Jong Un later this month.”
–Kylie Atwood, Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak, “US-South Korea reach agreement over cost of US troops in region,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, February 4, 2019 9:24 pm