In an interview published Wednesday by the American Prospect, a left-leaning website, Bannon said “he might consider” such a deal “with verifiable inspections,” but noted that this kind of agreement “seemed remote.”

South Korea currently hosts 28,500 U.S. troops that act as both a deterrent to North Korean aggression and a tripwire in the event of war, a scenario that would see forces in Japan, Guam and elsewhere sent into battle. Pyongyang has long sought a peace treaty with Washington — to replace the 1953 armistice — that would see the American forces depart the peninsula.