North Korea's rhetoric was reaching fever pitch again. Unused roads and rail links to the South had just been blown up in a spectacular display of belligerence. The North had labeled the South "a hostile state" and its leaders as "gangsters" and "scum.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and US President-elect Donald Trump discussed the presence of North Korean troops in Russia during a phone conversation that comes amid growing concern about Pyongyang’s deepening military cooperation with Moscow.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denied wrongdoing on Thursday in a burgeoning influence-peddling scandal involving him and his wife that is severely hurting his approval ratings and providing political munition to his rivals.