Seoul: A group of international women peace activists who plan to cross the border from North to South Korea this weekend, defended themselves Friday against "overheated" charges that Pyongyang was manipulating them for propaganda purposes.
The 30 or so marchers, lead by American feminist Gloria Steinem, are hoping to walk over the heavily-militarised border on Sunday in an effort to promote inter-Korean reconciliation.
But the plan has run into difficulties on several fronts, including South Korean opposition to crossing via the Panmunjom "truce village", where North and South Korean soldiers stand just metres apart in a permanent face-off over the border.
The women, who arrived in Pyongyang several days ago, said Friday they had agreed "with regret" to Seoul`s preference for a road crossing on the western part of the border that lacks the dramatic Cold War symbolism of the Panmunjom site.
The march has also been criticised by some for papering over North Korea`s dismal human rights record and presenting Pyongyang with an easy propaganda tool.
The North`s state media has reported on the group`s activities in Pyongyang, including a visit to the birthplace of North Korea`s founding leader Kim Il-Sung.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the North`s ruling Workers` party, quoted one of the activists, Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire, as saying she was "deeply moved" by the visit.
And one of the march co-organisers, Christine Ahn, was quoted as remarking how Kim Il-Sung had devoted his entire life to the freedom and liberation of the Korean people.
The unverified comments did not go down well in South Korea, where praising North Korea is a criminal act, and one conservative group said it would organise a protest rally to greet the women after they crossed the border.
The South`s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said that the marchers` remarks, if accurately reported, contradicted the activists` insistence that they were "non-political".
In a statement issued Friday through a representative office in Seoul, the organisers said they were concerned that the "overheated reaction" to the alleged comments might undermine the "initial purpose and integrity" of the march.
Crossing the border entails traversing the four-kilometre-wide demilitarised zone (DMZ) which straddles the actual North-South division line and which, despite its name, is one of the most heavily-militarised frontiers on the planet.
Crossings are extremely rare, but there is a recent precedent with five New Zealanders allowed to travel across on motorbikes in 2013.
The road crossing the marchers will take is mainly used by South Koreans accessing the Kaesong joint industrial zone, which lies 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) inside the North.
