PAYING UP

SOUTH Korea has agreed to boost its payments for the maintenance of US troops by 8.2% this year, completing an important step towards co-ordinating a summit between Washington and Pyongyang this month, the Yonhap news agency reported yesterday.

The deal, which the South Korean parliament must ratify, sees Seoul paying $890 million (R12 billion) for the upkeep of the 28 500 US troops stationed in the country. Yonhap cited a diplomatic source who said the US administration was reviewing defence contributions made by its allies.

The announcement comes before US President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss dismantling Pyonyang’s nuclear programme.

| LEE JIN-MAN AP Protesters hold banners during a rally near the Foreign Ministry in Seoul yesterday. South Korea and the US struck a new deal yesterday on how much Seoul should pay for the US military presence on its soil after several failed negotiations caused worries about their decades-long alliance.