VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

North Korea held a ceremony on Sunday to celebrate the completion of 10,000 new modern homes in the newly built Hwasong District in Pyongyang, state media KCNA reported.

Leader Kim Jong Un took part in the ceremony, the report said, as well as a number of senior government officials including Kim Tok Hun, premier of the cabinet.

The milestone comes two months after Kim broke ground in February on another housing project that has been described as "another luxurious street of socialism full of the people's happiness" by KCNA.

In 2021, North Korea announced plans to build 50,000 new apartments in the capital over the course of five years.

Since then, North Korea said it has moved forward with a series of construction projects, some of which are still ongoing amid foreign suspicion of food shortages.

Kim said the housing project is a long-cherished plan being pushed forward as a "top priority" by the Workers' Party of Korea and the state and he reaffirmed his idea to make Pyongyang a "world-famous" city, according to KCNA. (Reuters)

South Korea, the United States and Japan will stage joint naval missile defence exercises on Monday as they push for greater security cooperation to better counter North Korea's evolving missile threats, Seoul's navy said.

The announcement came days after the three countries agreed at their trilateral talks in Washington to conduct regular missile defence and anti-submarine exercises as part of efforts to scale up diplomatic and military cooperation.

Monday's drills will be held in international waters between Korea and Japan, bringing together South Korea's 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I, U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold, and Japan's Atago destroyer, also equipped with Aegis radar systems.

The three countries would focus on mastering response procedures from detection to tracking to information sharing by creating a virtual target under the scenario of a North Korean ballistic missile provocation, the South Korean navy said.

"It is an opportunity to strengthen trilateral security cooperation against North Korea's escalating nuclear and missile threats, and solidify our navy's capability and posture to respond to ballistic missiles," Captain Kim Ki-young of the South Korean destroyer said in a statement.

Tensions have simmered in recent weeks as the North ramped up military activities, testing a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday that experts say would facilitate missile launches with little warning.

Pyongyang threatened "more practical and offensive" action as South Korea and U.S. forces have been carrying out their annual springtime exercises since March, some of which involved Japan, calling them a rehearsal for nuclear war.

South Korean and U.S. air forces are separately set to begin their drills on Monday for a 12-day run.

Also on Monday, South Korea and Japan resumed their "two-plus-two" talks of senior diplomatic and security officials in Seoul after a five-year halt, amid a thaw in relations following a years-long feud over wartime history issues.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has pledged to move the ties beyond the past and visited Tokyo in March for the first time in 12 years as the country's leader. (Reuters)

The U.S. warship USS Milius sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, in what the U.S. Navy described on Monday as a "routine" transit, just days after China ended its latest war games around the island.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, officially ended its three days of exercises around Taiwan last Monday where it practiced precision strikes and blockading the island.

It staged the drills to express anger at Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, viewing it as an interference in China's internal affairs and U.S. support for Taiwan's separate identity from China.

The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius conducted a "routine Taiwan Strait transit" through waters "where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law".

The ship's transit demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, it added.

Chinese military's Eastern Theatre Command said in a social media post on Monday it organised troops to follow and monitor the U.S. destroyer throughout its operation.

Taiwan's defence ministry said the ship sailed in a northerly direction through the strait and that during its transit the situation in the strait was "as normal".

The U.S. Navy sails warships through the strait around once a month, and also regularly conducts similar freedom of navigation missions in the disputed South China Sea.

Last week, the USS Milius sailed near one of the most important man-made and Chinese controlled islands in the South China Sea, Mischief Reef. Beijing denounced it as illegal.

China has continued its military activities around Taiwan since the drills ended, though on a reduced scale.

On Monday morning, Taiwan's defence ministry said it had spotted 18 Chinese military aircraft and four naval vessels operating around Taiwan in the previous 24 hour period.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically governed Taiwan under its control.

Taiwan's government rejects China's territorial claims, and says only the island's people can decide their future. (Reuters)

Jakarta (voinews): Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto affirmed that Germany offered help to facilitate the finalization of the Indonesia-European Union Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA).

"We are conducting a pragmatic approach between the two countries, and I believe that Germany shares the same view with us. Therefore, Germany wants to facilitate Indonesia in the hopes of ramping up the process of IEU-CEPA negotiations," the minister stated in Hannover, Germany, Sunday (April 16) evening local time.

The statement was conveyed after Hartarto attended a bilateral meeting with Germany ahead of the inauguration of the world's largest technology exhibition Hannover Messe, in which Indonesia will be an official partner country.

According to Hartarto, Germany is encouraging Indonesia to apply a more pragmatic approach that will also necessitate taking into account the Indonesian farmers' interest.

"Germany should also do the same. They should take into account our cocoa, coffee, and palm oil farmers, just as we should do the same with regard to farmers in European countries," he remarked.

Hartarto revealed that several policies of the Indonesian Government pose one of the obstacles in reaching the final agreement in IEU-CEPA.

"Yes, there are several points (of obstacles). They always talk about our policies related to the 'local content'. However, we know that we have met the requirement for the domestic-level component (TKDN) or local content, like some other countries that have done the same in order to control inflation," he remarked.

As for the procurement of government's goods and services, the minister said that Indonesia has prepared it in a more open manner.

"Hence, we would gladly provide the data if they demand it," he affirmed.

He also drew attention to the role of state-owned enterprises (BUMN), stating that all parties may partake in conducting development activities in Indonesia.

"We want to assure that it is on a level playing field, so we are open to any party, who wishes to take part in conducting development activities in Indonesia," he stated.

Responding to a question on the prospects of Indonesia formulating either a free trade agreement (FTA) or preferential trade agreement (PTA), Airlangga assured that the government would not take that path, but rather, it would keep aiming for the IEU-CEPA agreement since the negotiations have entered the14th round.

"No, we are already in the 14th round," he stressed. (Antaranews)