The latest developments on the Korean peninsula continue to dominate headlines globally, as well as in China, as turmoil in both South and North Korea attract international attention. The murder of Kim Jong Un's half brother has sparked outrage, inciting South Korea to suggest the North's suspension from the UN. Amid heightened tensions, the U.S. and South Korea began their annual large scale military drills, while the Trump administration continues to evaluate North Korea's threat, calling on China to do more to pressure its neighbor. 

In South Korea, the decision by South Korea's conglomerate Lotte Group to allow the government to use its land to build THAAD has solicited angry reaction from China's state media. Xinhua, in a penned op-ed, condemned Lotte for its board's decision that cleared a major hurdle in the deployment of THAAD. Concerned with missile threat from North Korea, South Korea and the U.S. are quickening the pace to install THAAD, a move strongly opposed by China, along with Russia. Meanwhile, South Korea wrestles with an internal crisis as the head of Samsung, one of the largest family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebol, was indicted on bribery and embezzlement charges.

News broke that China's manufacturing expanded for the 7th month, perhaps allowing policymakers to shift from stimulus measures, while lowering unemployment. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday released a stack of key data that points to an economy getting more stabilized with new growth initiatives such as internet-enabled commerce playing a larger role. It's customary for the state statistics agency to publish key indicators of the economic and social growth ahead of the "Two Sessions" when the delegates to the country's top legislative body – National People's Congress, and the top advisory body – Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference meet in Beijing at the start of March.

The death at Kuala Lumbar of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, continues to intrigue the Chinese public as the news that VX nerve agent was used in the assassination tops the list of the most read news stories on Sina.com platform. In addition to a number of news items ranging from pension to health care to a recent Supreme Court clarification on the marriage law, the news of a recent public rally in China's Xinjiang region that indicates an intensified anti-terrorism and anti-separatism drive also ranks high on the list.

The two most powerful communist nations in the world clashed at a border outpost on the Ussuri River in the eastern region of the USSR, north of Vladivostok. The Soviets charged that Chinese soldiers crossed the border between the two nations and attacked a Soviet outpost, while the Chinese reported that it was the Soviets who crossed the border and were repulsed. Regardless of which claim was true, the clash was a key development in Cold War relations between the U.S., China, and Russia.