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Activists cancel original plan to cross N. Korean border

May 22, 2015
Organizers of the effort called WomenCrossDMZ.org, including lead coordinator Christine Ahn, left, and honorary co-chair Gloria Steinem, right, hold a United Nations news conference announcing plans for a rare and risky women's walk across the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea to call for reunification, in this March 11, 2015 file photo. Ahn said in an email Friday April 3, 2015 they have Pyongyang's cooperation and support.". (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Organizers of the effort called WomenCrossDMZ.org, including lead coordinator Christine Ahn, left, and honorary co-chair Gloria Steinem, right, hold a United Nations news conference announcing plans for a rare and risky women’s walk across the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea to call for reunification, in this March 11, 2015 file photo. Ahn said in an email Friday April 3, 2015 they have Pyongyang’s cooperation and support.”. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

SEOUL, May 22 (Yonhap) — A group of foreign activists who planned to cross the inter-Korean border southward from North Korea has decided to use a western land route instead of the truce village of Panmunjom, officials said Friday.

About 30 female activists from around the world, including U.S. activist Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday, planning to march from the North to the South across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to deliver a message of peace on Sunday. A legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, the DMZ bisects the Korean Peninsula.

Members of the group said that they have decided to cancel their original plan to walk through the truce village of Panmunjom. Instead, they have accepted the South Korean government’s recommendation to use the western corridor along the Gyeongui railway, officials from the group said.

The DMZ is a 259-kilometer-by-4-kilometer strip of rugged no-man’s land stretching from coast to coast, serving as a legacy of the Korean War that ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The truce village sits in the middle of the DMZ, which is guarded by stone-faced soldiers on each side of the military demarcation line. Passing through the truce village is a violation of the truce treaty, according to the United Nations Command.

“It is regrettable that we could not walk across Panmunjom. But we hope that the truce village could serve as a path toward peace and reconciliation some day,” said an official from the group.

The activists said that the purpose of the DMZ crossing is to express hope that Korean families separated by the Korean War will be united someday and military tensions between the two sides can be reduced.

Seoul has said that the planned event should take place in a way that does not spark unintended tension on the Korean Peninsula, raising concerns that it could be politicized by the North.

The activists allegedly made pro-Pyongyang remarks during their visit to the birthplace of the North’s late founder Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s media said Thursday.

The Ministry of Unification said its approval for the DMZ crossing was made on the grounds that it would be a civilian activity with a non-political purpose.

“If the North’s report is true, we believe that the event has deviated from one that was promoted as non-political,” Ministry Spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said at a press briefing. “The Seoul government expects them to run the event in accordance with South Korea’s law.”