From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Will President Trump's first foreign policy test be in Asia?

Hello again, I'm Aron Almi, and this is to the point.

Barack Obama warned Donald Trump about trouble from North Korea,

and his prediction is coming true. With North Korea's missile tests and America's missile defenses,

China says they're like trains accelerating toward one another. China itself feels threatened,

and South Korea, where the defenses are being installed, has just kicked the president out of office.

Meanwhile, North Korea's Kim Jong-un appears to have orchestrated the public assassination of his half-brother.

Is all this building up to a regional crisis?

Later on today's talking point, hundreds of new officials in mid-level government jobs.

Is the president really draining the swamp?

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Hello again, Warren. I'll be back with To the Point. Starting with North Korea's latest test of nuclear missiles, a chain of events is causing instability in Asia. Could it turn into the first real foreign policy crisis of the Trump administration?

Today's talking point, presidential candidate Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp in

Washington, and that included reducing the influence of lobbyists.

But it turns out that many lobbyists are among the so-called beachhead that he's established

in many agencies.

...