It is never easy to predict what North Korea, unarguably the world’s most isolated country, will do and what will happen there. It is not rare either for the North Korean leadership to take a sharp turn in its dealings with the outside world, especially South Korea and the U.S. 

Nevertheless, some latest developments in North Korea raise hope that at least for the time being, it will not take any action to shake peace and stability in the region.

The first positive development surrounds the North’s apparent retreat from a threat to test-fire a long-range missile or conduct a fourth nuclear test. Both will violate U.N. resolutions, and the international community, led by South Korea, the U.S. and the U.N. have been pressing the North not to make any such provocation.

It had been expected that the North will cause trouble, possibly with a rocket launch around the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party, which falls on Saturday. But it is very unlikely that the North will act very soon, according to Seoul officials and experts who cite the lack of preparations for such a launch.

Seoul officials said that no rocket body has been transported to the launch site. A website monitoring North Korea, 38 North, also said latest satellite images show that reports of a possible long-range rocket or nuclear test on Oct. 10 are “just all wrong.”

One more positive development is that the North keeps working with the South to arrange reunions of families separated across the border. The North, criticizing President Park Geun-hye’s address to the U.N. General Assembly last month, threatened that the reunion plan could be on “thin ice.”

But preparations by the two sides’ Red Cross officials are proceeding without a hitch, with plans to exchange the names of 100 participants from each side scheduled for Thursday.

North Korea took one more reconciliatory step Monday -- it released a South Korean student enrolled at an American university. Joo Won-moon, 21, had been detained since April 22 after illegally crossing into the North from China.

The move is seen to improve its image ahead of the key anniversary, although the fact that the North is still detaining a missionary and two more South Korean citizens show that it has not yet given up its policy of detaining South Korean or American citizens to use as leverage in its foreign policy.

As we are well aware, all these seemingly positive developments could be wiped away in a single act by the North. But we hope that on this occasion Pyongyang remains on the road of peace and reconciliation for a long time.