President Donald Trump has reaffirmed that drawing down U.S. troops stationed in South Korea will not be discussed during his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. 

When asked whether a drawdown is on the cards for next week's summit, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that "no, it is not a consideration." He said "that is not one of the things on the table."

When pressed about then what will be discussed, Trump said that "everything is on the table."

In an interview with CBS News early this month, Trump said he has no plans to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea and he's never even discussed removing them.

But he did repeat his complaint that maintaining what he said was 40-thousand U.S. forces in South Korea is “very expensive.”

Speaking at Stanford University last month, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun also knocked down the prospect that the U.S. would agree to withdraw troops from South Korea as a concession to North Korea.

Biegun said the U.S. is not involved in any diplomatic discussion that would suggest this trade-off and it has never been discussed.