North Korea fires a missile ahead of Trump inauguration

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

85% : Trump first met Kim in June 2018 in Singapore, then in Hanoi in February 2019, then at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea in June 2019, where Trump became the first U.S. president to set foot on North Korean territory.
63% : Last month, Trump named a former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as his presidential envoy for special missions that he said covered "some of the hottest spots" around the world, including North Korea.
62% : During the election campaign Trump defended his relationship with North Korea saying that "getting along" with Kim was a "good thing," and suggested North Korea would not be "acting up" if he returned to the White House.
59% : Trump raised his engagement with North Korea during his election campaign and in a sign that he might have an eye on reviving the effort, he has picked an aide who was involved in planning the summits with Kim.
53% : "Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, spearheaded an unprecedented diplomatic push on North Korea during his first term as president, meeting leader Kim Jong Un three times but making no progress on efforts to get him to abandon his nuclear and missile programs.
53% : Kim did not refer to Trump by name but said that given U.S. policy towards North Korea, its only option was to achieve the "most powerful military capabilities," North Korean state media reported in November.
51% : Trump has also named Alex Wong, who was engaged in working-level nuclear talks with Pyongyang during his first term, as his principal deputy national security adviser.
47% : Japan's Ministry of Defense also confirmed the launch and said it was thought the missile had already fallen into the sea.
44% : But Kim had appeared to rule out the prospect of improving relations with the U.S. under incoming Trump, saying negotiations with the U.S. in the past had only confirmed its unwavering hostility.
41% : Trump sought to curb North Korea's nuclear program, while Kim aimed to ease sanctions and gain international prestige but the effort brought no progress on denuclearization or any lasting improvement in relations.
33% : Former Trump adviser Robert O'Brien told media in September that Trump might resume talks with North Korea if re-elected but questioned whether Kim would commit to denuclearization.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.