WPP is happy to have actively participated in this unique and courageous initiative of Women Cross DMZ. We will publish the personal experiences of Netsai Mushonga and her views on all the events for peace in Korea soon.
30 international citizen diplomats and 3000 women in North Korea. Women peace activists cross North-South Korea border
Los Angeles Times. By Steven Borowiec. Women peace activists cross Korean DMZ amid heavy security and criticism
The South Korean government denied the women permission to cross at Panmunjom, saying that it was not possible to guarantee their safety at the village. Instead, a bus picked the women up on the north side and brought them south. The women said that while in North Korea they were able to act as “citizen diplomats” and interact with women at a series of events. “Every little step is a step in the right direction,” said Liberian Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee.
The New York Times. Peace Activists Cross Demilitarized Zone Separating Koreas
When the activists marched in Pyongyang on Saturday, North Korean women in colorful traditional dresses lined a boulevard waving red and pink paper flowers, according to North Korean television footage. One of the roadside signs said “Let us reunify the divided country as soon as possible!”
Irish Times. Female activists cross Korean DMZ in symbolic act for peace
The WomanCrossDMZ group is calling for a permanent peace treaty to replace the armistice which ended the conflict.
UPI. Gloria Steinem: Peace walk broke through 'artificial barriers' in North Korea
The group is planning another peace walk for 2016, on May 24, the designated International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament.
Deutsche Welle. Women activists cross inter-Korean border in peace event
The women also wanted to highlight the plight of families divided by the conflict, who have had little or no contact over the last six decades.
http://www.dw.de/women-activists-cross-inter-korean-border-in-peace-event/a-18472896
NOS: Vrouwenactivisten gaan toch Koreaanse grens over (In Dutch)
http://nos.nl/artikel/2037409-vrouwenactivisten-gaan-toch-koreaanse-grens-over.html
The Independent of UK. Meet the woman who led a march for peace across Korea's field strewn with a million land mines
Effervescent and ebullient at 81, Ms Steinem did the talking for the group as they huddled in South Korea’s immigration transit centre. They had nothing but superlatives for “all that we accomplished”. She said they had had “frank conversations” with North Korean women, away from officials; that they had broken through “artificial barriers”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/gloria-steinems-peace-marchers-reduced-to-tourists-in-koreas-dmz-by-bitter-opponents-10273892.html
BBC. Female activists cross demilitarized zone on Koreas' border
The group had originally intended to walk through the "truce village" of Panmunjom, where North and South Korean soldiers are separated by several metres across the border. But South Korea opposed the plan, sending a bus across the border to the North to fetch the women and transport them back over the border to the South. The women sang and carried banners as they crossed the first checkpoint leading into the DMZ from North Korea.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32863457
Christian Science Monitor. Can women end Korean War? After DMZ crossing, Gloria Steinem says 'Yes'
“I feel as if I have just come from visiting a kind, hard-working and loving family who are doing their best to survive under a controlling, totalitarian head of household,” Ms. Steinem told an audience in Seoul about her experience for several days in North Korea, prior to Sunday’s crossing of the demilitarized zone that has separated the two Koreas for more than six decades. Extending an analogy between victims of domestic violence and the citizens of the divided Koreas, Steinem said women could use their experience of life as mothers and nurturers to give Koreans “proof of a humane alternative” to the status quo. “They prove to the world that women can make peace, on their own without governments, when sometimes governments cannot,” she said.
“We appeal to the UN Secretary General, to President Obama, to the North and South Korean leadership [for] a peace treaty to end the war and normalize relationships between the wonderful people of North and South Korea,” Ms. Maguire, the 1976 recipient of the Nobel peace prize, said at the DMZ shortly before the group crossed.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2015/0525/Can-women-end-Korean-War-After-DMZ-crossing-Gloria-Steinem-says-Yes
PBS News Hour. Gloria Steinem, peace activists cross Demilitarized Zone separating Koreas
“We have accomplished what no one said can be done, which is to be a trip for peace, for reconciliation, for human rights and a trip to which both governments agreed,” Steinem, 81, told South Korean media after crossing. “We were able to be citizen diplomats.” Steinem said her group was focused on breaking through barriers to "make human connections" and highlight the suffering that the Korean peninsula's absolute division continues to impose.
NK. News. Women activists cross DMZ between North, South Korea
WomenCrossDMZ group not allowed to walk across the DMZ, instead taking bus most of the way
“You can get human rights when you don’t have a country at war,” Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire added.
MSNBC. Gloria Steinem, activists cross DMZ dividing Koreas by bus
“We were able to be citizen diplomats,” said Steinem, the 81-year-old feminism pioneer and author. “We are feeling very, very positive. We have received an enormous amount of support,” she said after passing through South Korean immigration.
The Washington Post. Women’s activists cross from North to South Korea, say divide can be bridged
As they crossed the 2 1/2- mile-wide strip that has divided the Korean Peninsula for more than 60 years, the women, all dressed in white and wearing rainbow-colored scarves, said the fact that the two Koreas agreed to the crossing at all was a sign of progress.
NPR. Controversy Follows As Activists Cross North-South Korean Border
"It was an enormous, enormous triumph," Steinem said, after crossing into the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone.
CNN. Women activists cross DMZ between North and South Korea
"We feel very celebratory and positive that we have created a voyage across the DMZ in peace and reconciliation that was said to be impossible," Steinem said after the group, which had originally planned to walk across the zone, arrived in South Korea.
The activists said they acted as "citizen diplomats" in North Korea, speaking with women at a series of events during their time there.
HuffingtonPost. Gloria Steinem, Women Peace Activists Cross DMZ Dividing North And South Korea
"This is about human relationships, this is about us seeing our common humanity in each other," Mairead Maguire, Northern Ireland peace activist and Nobel Laureate, said at a press conference on the southern side of the inter-Korean border.
13 Photos Of Gloria Steinem and Feminists Marching From North to South Korea
The Wall Street Journal. Activists Cross Border of North, South Korea
Group of women led by Gloria Steinem campaign to encourage peace talks
The women also responded to critics who said they weren’t directly addressing North Korea’s alleged human-rights violations.
“You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war,” said Ms. Maguire.
The Australian. Gloria Steinem joins peace activists in walk along Korean demilitarised zone
The group, which includes Nobel peace laureates Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Maguire, has also highlighted the anguish of divided families who have had little or no contact since the separation into North and South. “We are here today because we don’t believe in war,” Ms Maguire said after passing through immigration on the South side. “You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war,” said Ms Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel peace prize for her co-leadership of the women’s peace movement in strife-torn Northern Ireland. “The sooner we get a peace treaty signed ... and normalise relationships ... the quicker we will get to human rights,” she added.
Boing Boing. These Women Have Crossed the Line: 30 activists cross North Korea DMZ for peace
In an historic move, a group of global feminist activists march into the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea to create a space for a new type of conversation about truly ending the Korean war. Independent investigative journalist Tim Shorrock had a different take. In an email from Seoul, he called the DMZ march “an important milestone because it runs against the grain of the militarist approach to Korea taken by the Obama administration and the hostility of the South Korean government.”
The Hankyoreh. Women Cross DMZ say next year they’ll try to go from South to North Korea
“We are currently discussing the idea of holding WomenCrossDMZ each year around International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament on May 24 until a peace treaty is signed,”
The Hankyoreh. [Interview] Liberian Nobel laureate has something to say to S. Korean gov’t
“No other country can bring peace to North and South Korea,” she added. “South Korea depends on the US and North Korea depends on China, but neither the US nor China is bringing peace.”
ABC News. Gloria Steinem, Female Peace Activists Cross Korea Border
“It’s a very repressive country, but it was great for us to go there … and have some real dialogue and some interactions with women,” said Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, a left-wing peace activist group. “I met women who’ve never met an American before in their lives and they had such terrible ideas about us and we became close friends. We were all crying when we left this morning saying goodbye.”
The Hankyoreh. Delegation of women activists from abroad cross the DMZ in the name of peace
No one has attempted to cross on foot since then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun walked over the Gyeongui Line during an Oct. 2007 visit to North Korea for an inter-Korean summit. Mairead Maguire, a 71-year-old from Northern Ireland who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976, said the saddest sight she encountered in North Korea was the divided families. “These brothers and sisters who couldn’t see other again because of the unending Cold War,” Maguire said. “I hope North and South Korea can have peaceful dialogue about the shared humanity and brotherly and sisterly love even in the lingering Cold War system. Peace is possible,” she continued. Leemah Gbowee, a 44-year-old Liberian and winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, said the journey had “created a new path of communication between North and South through civilian-to-civilian diplomacy.” “What I came to believe during the Liberian civil war was that small steps can change the world,” she added.
Euro News. Peace activists cross the demilitarized zone that separates South and North Korea
The Telegraph. Women's 'peace march' criticised as they cross Korean Demilitarised Zone
Police forced to separate bus containing Gloria Steinem, Mairead Maguire and other activists from anti-Pyongyang demonstrators. The 1950-53 Korean War officially never ended, with North Korea only ever signing an armistice with American-led United Nations forces. The women appealed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US President Barack Obama and the leadership of both Koreas to consider a peace treaty.
KWOW. ORG. Seattle. Activists Cross The DMZ In Controversial Peace Demonstration
Arirang News. It was a peaceful crossing and a journey they once thought impossible.
"The hundreds of women walking toward Imjingak Park have two goals -- to draw attention to Korea's forgotten war and to reunite families and the divided peninsula."
Korea Herald. Female activists cross inter-Korean border from North Korea
She voiced hope that their move could become the beginning of contacts across the "artificial barrier" to promote peace and understanding between the two Koreas.
The Nation. Peace activists cross North-South Korea border
“We bought one-way tickets for Pyongyang not even knowing whether we would need to fly back to Beijing,” Gbowee said during a press conference live-streamed from a Pyongyang hotel room on Saturday. “Not only did we receive the blessing for our historic crossing, we’ve gotten both Korean governments to communicate. That is a success,” she said.
Jakargaglobe. Korean Activists Brave the DMZ for Peace and Disarmament
“I think critics of the event are ascribing more significance to it than it warrants objectively,” said David Straub, associate director of the Korean Studies Program at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and who served in South Korea as a US diplomat. The peace march would probably not have much impact one way or the other, he added.
Still, other Korea experts said they supported the march. “Given that there is no dialogue going on at the governmental level, why not?” said Peter Beck, long-time Korea watcher and former country representative in South Korea for the Asia Foundation. “If anything this march will undermine the narrative in North Korea that the United States is this evil imperialist regime that wants to bring ill and bring down North Korea. This march can show the North Korean people that we are a diverse country and that there are those actively trying to promote peace and reconciliation,” he said.
Global Times. China.
They had "real" and "valuable" exchanges with DPRK women in Pyongyang through telling each others' human stories, she added. "We have done what no one imagine woman could do," said Gbowee. "It's the first step in the right direction. Every little step is the right step in the right direction."
Voice of America
Still, Steinem said, just getting agreement to cross at all — from two nations still technically at war — counts as a win. "It was an enormous, enormous triumph," Steinem said, after crossing into the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone.
The Newspro Chomsky Voices Support for Women’s Peace Walk Connecting North and South
노엄 촘스키, 비무장지대 국제여성평화행진에 국제적인 지지 호소
The world renowned scholar and MIT professor Noam Chomsky supports Women’s Peace Walk. According to Dr. Chun, Professor Chomsky stresses the importance of paying attention to the victims of the bitter and protracted Korean conflict. Dr. Chun also states that international scholars and non-governmental organizations are forming solidarity to seek a permanent peace in the Korean peninsula. They have sent letters to President Obama urging him to pursue diplomacy.
Dong A Daily. Noam Chomsky Supports DMZ International Women’s Peace Walk
NEWSIS . Noam Chomsky Supports DMZ International Women’s Peace Walk
Brave and remarkable efforts
Joongang Daily. Noam Chomsky Supports DMZ International Women’s Peace Walk
Brave and remarkable efforts
Dong A Daily Blog. Noam Chomsky Supports DMZ International Women’s Peace Walk
Time. Gloria Steinem’s North Korea Peace Walk Draws Ire Despite Lack of Any Better Ideas
The group is pushing for empathy — not for the regime but for those suffering under it. They want to make us care about North Korea by showing us that North Koreans are people, not Hollywood caricatures. The world needs to stand up to North Korea. Its record on human rights is appalling, its leader cruel. But the current strategy — isolation, condemnation and mockery — is not working. As such, it’s hard to condemn a walk for peace
Women Peacemakers Program. WOMEN CROSS THE DMZ - WHERE DOES MY PASSION COME FROM?
I belong to the Women Peacemakers Program since its formation; not by chance, but by divine appointment. I am a women peacemaker and it comes naturally to me due to my circumstances growing up… In 1977, I lived through the darkest 12 hours of my life, in the morning my 10 year old sister dragged the three of us to bath and wash clothes in the river that cut across our village.
Inclusive Democracy. From Northern Ireland to Korea: the power of nonviolence and love in action
In the North of Ireland, women visited the prisoners and families who had lost loved ones during ‘the troubles.’ Their focus was on forgiveness and reconciliation, realizing that forgiveness is the key to peace. When the peace process was happening in Northern Ireland women played a critical and decisive role at the negotiating table, insisting on all inclusive, unconditional talks and bringing difficult issues, such as demilitarization, prisoners’ rights, equality and minority rights, to the power sharing negotiations. We have been blessed to see an end to the Northern Irish violent conflict, but acknowledge too that post-conflict peacebuilding is a work in progress.
The New York Times. Peace Activists Hit Roadblock Ahead of DMZ Crossing
Steinem, an iconic figure in the international women's rights movement, said she wants Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, the commanding officer of U.S. Forces, Korea and the U.N. Command, to step in and provide security assurances for Korean officials on both sides of the DMZ so that the crossing can go through Panmunjom.
Dissidentvoice. Women’s Peace Walk Across the Korean DMZ Impeded
Activists Pledge to Cross Anyway and Call on the UN to Assist
The women’s peace walk has garnered wide international support, including endorsements from U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, co-founder of Twitter Evan Williams, actor Robert Redford, and physician Deepak Chopra.
The Nation. Women Peacemakers Head to the Korean DMZ to Spark Conversation, Change
The activists join a rich tradition of women working to end conflict.
“The conflict between North and South Korea is one that Steinem says has overshadowed much of her life. At a UN press conference on April 24, she recounted a story of her high school classmate, whose father, a World War II veteran, killed both his son and himself out of fear that his son would be drafted to the Korean War. She said she feels a particular obligation to work toward ending the decades-long conflict in the Korea… In other words, it is talking that’s part of the solution,” she said. “I did not see the same media commentators calling the US Army War college naïve. It’s because it’s women calling for this.” She added, “I see we have a distance to go. This is by no means a judgment. This is a community striving, striving worldwide to understand that human beings are linked; we are not ranked.”
NBC News. Gloria Steinem Lands in North Korea for Peace March Across DMZ
Women activists leave for North Korea and DMZ peace march
REUTERS. Women activists leave for North Korea and DMZ peace march
UPI. Women activists in North Korea for DMZ peace march
Yonhap News. Women leaders urge U.N. Command to allow peace march at Panmunjom
The Japan Times. Women activists leave Beijing on controversial peace march through North Korea
Steinem, Nobel laureates in North Korea for march across DMZ
The group of about 30 women is to spend several days in North Korea before the march meeting with North Korean women, touring hospitals and factories and holding an international women's peace symposium. After the crossing, they also plan to hold a peace march and a symposium in South Korea. http://www.nknews.org/2015/05/border-crossers-leave-for-pyongyang/
Undeterred by purge rumors, women peace activists leave for Pyongyang
“We have no illusions that our walk can basically erase the conflict that has endured for seven decades,” Ahn said. “I believe that we are, basically by crossing the DMZ, breaking through this mental state that this is a permanent division.” In North Korea, the group would “meet hundreds of North Korean women” from all different sectors, tour a maternity hospital, a children’s preschool and a women’s factory in Pyongyang, as the group emphasized they would conduct “citizen diplomacy” in the communist country. http://www.wkrg.com/story/29098836/steinem-nobel-laureates-in-north-korea-for-march-across-dmz
Yonhap News (LEAD) Nobel laureates hopeful for peace on Korean Peninsula
Gbowee, a 2011 Nobel Peace laureate for her role in leading a Liberian women's movement that helped bring an end to her country's brutal civil war, said women and children are those who mostly suffer from a conflict, recalling her memories in the Liberian conflict. "I am walking with our sisters from North and South Korea to change the dynamics of the Korean War and to bring a human dimension into this conflict," Gbowee said. "And I believe that this is the first step in the right direction." Maguire, who won the prize in 1976 for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland, also agreed. "I come from Northern Ireland and, in 1976, we were on the brink of a civil war and three of my younger sisters and children were all killed," Maguire said. "We said, by clearly, we reject the use of bombs, bullets, war and violence. "So, we go and hope because we believe that the people of Korea, they don't want a war, they don't want killing, and they want to live together," Maguire added. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2015/05/19/76/0401000000AEN20150519005200315F.html
Women Activists Set Off On Controversial North Korea Peace Walk
Christian Science monitor. What is Gloria Steinem doing in North Korea?
ABC News. Peace Activists Hit Roadblock Ahead of DMZ Crossing
“…officials in Pyongyang have informed her that without a formal letter from Seoul approving a crossing at Panmunjom — usually reserved for government missions — they may have to cross at another location. Ahn said North Korea approved the crossing and has requested confirmation with Seoul through the Red Cross. But she said she was informed after arriving with her group on Tuesday that Seoul had not replied. Pending clear approvals from Seoul and the U.N. military command that supervises the DMZ, she said the group has been advised to consider crossing from nearby Kaesong on a highway that is used mainly for civilian and commercial purposes.”
Fox News. Steinem, Nobel laureates in North Korea for march across DMZ
Support the making of a new documentary, Crossings, by esteemed film maker Deann Borshay Liem
Seoul to allow women activists to march from North to South Korea
South Korea will allow an international women's group to enter the country on a planned march from North Korea by crossing the heavily-fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ), South Korean government officials told Reuters on Friday.
S. Korea greenlights women's peace march across DMZ
Once dubbed "the scariest place on earth" by former US President Bill Clinton, the DMZ is, despite its name, one of the world's most heavily militarized frontiers, bristling with watchtowers and landmines.
S. Korea to allow foreign activists to cross inter-Korean border
Citizen Diplomats Cross Korea’s DMZ Calling for Reconciliation
“Women have historically been influential in ending seemingly intractable conflicts. Women were key to facilitating the peace process after decades of fighting in Northern Ireland. Women brought the warring parties of the Second Liberian Civil War to the negotiating table, ending years of bloodshed Liberia. And now, women are putting a global spotlight on Korea.”
Budapest Business Journal. No Manʼs Land: Women Plan Peace March Across Koreaʼs DMZ
Mairead Maguire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize
“In Korean culture, family relations are deeply important, and millions of families have been painfully separated for 70 years. Although there was a period of reconciliation during the Sunshine Policy years between the two Korean governments in which many families had the joy of reunion, the vast majority of families remain separated. Many elders have sadly died without ever seeing their families reunited.”
Huffington Post. Women Bridge Divide Between Koreas By Crossing the DMZ
"We need symbolic acts that capture the world's attention and help shift all the major players in the direction of negotiations," says writer and Korea expert John Feffer. "It's mostly men -- men from politics, men from business, men on both sides of the DMZ -- who have been dealing with the Korean peninsula issue over the years. And we men haven't achieved very much. So, let's see what this brave band of women can do." This brave band of women is forging a path we hope others will follow. If President Obama would add Korea to his administration's ongoing initiatives on Iran and Cuba, this axis of diplomacy could become his most lasting legacy.
TheWorldPost. Women's Delegation to Cross the DMZ
"Many Korean women have successfully overturned that particular remnant of chauvinism. And with this march, women are implicitly criticizing all the men who have sustained the Cold War on the Korean peninsula on both sides of the DMZ. ..So, let's see what this brave band of women can do. And support them in whatever ways we can."
Korea Joonang Daily. North Korea pledges support for Women’s DMZ Peace March
Women Bridge Divide Between Koreas by Crossing The DMZ
Korea Policy Institute. Opinion: Continuing The Centennial Work Of Women And Citizen Diplomacy In Korea
"As Addams boarded the ship to The Hague, she and other women peace activists were mocked for seeking alternative ways than war to resolve international disputes. Addams dismissed criticism that they were naïve and wild-eyed idealists: “We do not think we can settle the war. We do not think that by raising our hands we can make the armies cease slaughter. We do think it is valuable to state a new point of view. We do think it is fitting that women should meet and take counsel to see what may be done.”
Women Peace Marchers Cross Minefields between North & South Korea
"2015 is the year to celebrate women peacemakers: the 100th anniversary of the International Congress of Women, when over 1000 women came together in the Hague amidst the horrors of World War I to call for an end to militarism—and founded the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, which this week has again assembled women peacemakers from every continent to celebrate women’s campaigns for peaceful, negotiated solutions to conflicts around the world."
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, The Arab Daily News, “Why are we planning to walk across the DEMILITARIZED ZONE (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea?”
"The UN command at the DMZ has said it would facilitate our crossing once South Koreas Government gives its approval —a small team of women are planning a historic walk of 30 international women peacemakers from twelve different countries to cross the DMZ on 24th May, 2015, International Women’s Disarmament Day."
Christine Ahn, Huffington Post, “Why Gloria Steinem, Other Women and I Plan to March to the World's Most Fortified Border”
“We hope to cross the DMZ to renew Korean people's hope that the DMZ can and must be crossed to reunify families and to begin to heal the divided peninsula.”
South Korea’s Free Trade Strategy. The Woodrow Wilson Center
A Lethe of Peace in North-east Asia: Memories of Force and The Prospect for Reconciliation
"Lethe is the name of a mythological Greek river. The ancient Greeks believed that souls who drank its water would completely forget their past and become ready for reincarnation... to engender hopes that someday not only the Korean peninsula, but also region of North-east Asia, and indeed the whole world take on the character of a Lethe of Indefinite Peace that can help humanity forget memories of force, violence, war and oppression and to be able to at last utter: The Time is free." http://tinyurl.com/7mkrb8h
2015 WOMEN’S WALK FOR PEACE IN KOREA
"Meanwhile, thousands of Korean elders die every year waiting on a government list to see their children or siblings after being separated by the DMZ. In North Korea, crippling sanctions against the government make it difficult for ordinary people to access the basics needed for survival. The unresolved Korean conflict gives all governments in the region justification to further militarize and prepare for war, depriving funds for schools, hospitals, and the welfare of the people and the environment. That’s why women are walking for peace, to reunite families, and end the state of war in Korea."
The Center for Citizen Diplomacy.
Citizen diplomacy builds individual and collective global fluency, which in turn creates economic opportunity, contributes to peace and stability, and develops leadership skills through global problem solving.
On May 24, 2015, marking the 20th anniversary of International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament, a delegation of 30 international peacemakers was able to cross the 2-mile Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea as a symbolic act of peace. With this nonviolent peace initiative, the women addressed the 70 year long state of war between both countries and promoted a diplomatic solution to the conflict, instead of a military one. Despite the name, the DMZ is one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world, and border crossings have been very rare. Amongst the 30 women was Netsai Mushonga, WPP International Advisory Council member, walking on behalf of WPP in solidarity with women from all over the world living in conflict and war zones.
During their stay in North Korea, the delegation was able to meet and share experiences on living in conflict areas with women in North Korea. Despite numerous efforts and prior commitments made by the UN command, the delegation was not able to cross the DMZ at Panmunjom, the 'truce village', on the border of both Koreas. They crossed the DMZ with a bus, but were able to walk 1 kilometer along the DMZ in both North and South Korea. In South Korea, hundreds of South Korean women were waiting for the arrival of the delegation after having crossed the DMZ, and organized a peace symposium to discuss the results of the peace walk. Though there has been critical opposition towards the international delegation and the peace walk, the delegation itself describes the event as a triumph for peace and reconciliation, emphasizing the need to make personal connections to come to a peace treaty.
