1. The health ministry said Monday it started taking procedures to suspend the licenses of around 7-thousand trainee doctors who have defied the government’s order to return to work after walking off their job in protest of plans to increase the medical school quota.

2. South Korea and the United States started the annual Freedom Shield exercise on Monday. The joint military exercise will run for 11 days until March 14th amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s provocations.

3. China’s largest political event, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, opened on Monday. China’s parliament is expected to unveil economic targets and policies to reenergize the economy during the Two Sessions.