North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has suspended plans for military action against the South, state media reported on Wednesday in a sudden easing of tensions after Pyongyang blew up a liaison office.
In recent weeks, Pyongyang has repeatedly criticised Seoul over anti-North leaflets defectors based in the South send across the border – usually attached to balloons or floated in bottles.
Last week it blew up a liaison office on its side of the border that symbolised inter-Korean rapprochement, while its military said it would take measures against the South.
The moves included re-entering areas of the North that it had withdrawn from as part of inter-Korean projects, restoring guard posts in the Demilitarised Zone that forms the border, and stepping up exercises.
But the North's official Korean Central News Agency said Mr Kim on Tuesday presided over a Central Military Commission meeting that "suspended the military action plans against the south".
It did not elaborate.
The North also began removing loudspeakers on Wednesday from border areas, which they had started setting up two days ago to broadcast anti-South propaganda, the South's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.
The apparently conciliatory moves by Pyongyang are unusual, and come after analysts said it was seeking to manufacture a crisis on the peninsula in an effort to extract concessions.
Seoul had retorted with uncharacteristically stern criticism to Pyongyang's attack on the liaison office and harsh condemnation of President Moon Jae-in by Mr Kim's sister Kim Yo-jong, saying it will "no longer tolerate" the North's "unreasonable acts and words".
But the nuclear-armed North "is by no means done threatening South Korea or bolstering its so-called deterrent", Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said.
"The Kim regime had domestic political boxes to check and may be presently satisfied with public unity."
Inter-Korean relations have been in a deep freeze following the collapse of a summit in Hanoi between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump early last year over what the nuclear-armed North would be willing to give up in exchange for a easing of sanctions.
The impoverished country is subject to UN Security Council sanctions over its banned weapons programmes.
Since early June, Kim Yo-jong has been the face of Pyongyang's highly aggressive stance towards the South over anti-North leaflets.
The North blew up the liaison office after she warned days before that it would soon be seen "completely collapsed", and later she called the South's president – who has long favoured engagement with Pyongyang – "disgusting" and apparently "insane".
Pyongyang has also said it has millions of anti-Seoul propaganda leaflets ready to send to the South as retaliation.
"Having someone else speak for the regime also gives Kim Jong Un the option of adjusting course," said Prof Easley.
"He may do so in search of external concessions or because his military needs more time to implement the next provocation."
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
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• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Racecard
2pm Handicap Dh 90,000 1,800m
2.30pm Handicap Dh120,000 1,950m
3pm Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
3.30pm Jebel Ali Classic Conditions Dh300,000 1,400m
4pm Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
4.30pm Conditions Dh250,000 1,400m
5pm Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
5.30pm Handicap Dh85,000 1,000m
The National selections:
2pm Arch Gold
2.30pm Conclusion
3pm Al Battar
3.30pm Golden Jaguar
4pm Al Motayar
4.30pm Tapi Sioux
5pm Leadership
5.30pm Dahawi
Europe wide
Some of French groups are threatening Friday to continue their journey to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, and to meet up with drivers from other countries on Monday.
Belgian authorities joined French police in banning the threatened blockade. A similar lorry cavalcade was planned for Friday in Vienna but cancelled after authorities prohibited it.
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
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The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
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The five pillars of Islam
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$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
