Did North Korea's Kim Jong Un just remove a key stumbling block in negotiations with the U.S.?

By affirming that American troops can stay in South Korea under a possible nuclear deal, did North Korean leader Kim Jong Un just remove a key stumbling block in negotiations with the United States?

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that Kim isn't asking for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula as a precondition for abandoning his nuclear weapons. If true, this would appear to remove a major roadblock to a potential deal under which Kim relinquishes his nuclear arsenal.

The North has for decades tied its development of nuclear weapons to what it has labeled a "hostile" U.S. policy — a reference to the 28,500 troops on its "doorstep" in South Korea, as well as the roughly 50,000 troops stationed in Japan. Perhaps more immediately pressing for Pyongyang, it has also linked this policy to the U.S. pulling back the "nuclear umbrella" Washington has extended over its closest Asian allies. Pulling that back would end the U.S. commitment to "extended deterrence" — its threat of nuclear retaliation if either country is attacked by the North.