Women activists cross North-South borders
PAJU, South Korea — An international group of women peace activists, led by American feminist Gloria Steinem, made a rare crossing Sunday of one of the world's most militarized borders between North and South Korea.
The group of 30 activists rode by bus through the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas in what Steinem described as a "triumph" for peace and reconciliation, dismissing criticism that the women had allowed themselves to be used as propaganda tools by the North.
"I'm so confident that once it is clear what we have experienced, these objections will go away," Steinem told reporters on the South Korean side of the border.
Detractors argued that the group had played into the North's hands by refusing to directly criticize its dismal human rights record during their stay in Pyongyang, where the activists held a peace gathering with North Korean women's groups.
They also suggested the interactions at the gathering were less than genuine given that the North Korean women had likely been specially selected by the authorities.
"I know we had real human exchanges with North Korean women," Steinem insisted.
"Nothing we do can change the image of North Korea. We are trying to make person by person connections, so that there is understanding," she added.
The group had originally wanted to cross the DMZ through the Panmunjom "truce village", where North and South Korean soldiers stand just metres apart in a permanent, Cold War face-off over the border.
But South Korea opposed the plan and the women finally agreed "with regret" to Seoul's preference for a road crossing on the western part of the border.
They were also prevented from walking on foot over the actual border line, and had to move by bus instead.