Doc World

WOMEN (singing in Korean): NARRATOR: Peacemakers, all women from around the world, set out to walk across the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

MEDEA BENJAMIN: We really feel an obligation as women to try to, uh, stop wars.

CHRISTINE AHN: We have to own this moment!

NARRATOR: "Crossings" on Doc World.

DONALD TRUMP: North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland.

JOHN BOLTON: The question is, do you want the American people to be held hostage by this bizarre regime in North Korea?

MATT LAUER: Every military expert says there is no good military option.

- There is a military option.

LAUER: What's a good one?

- To destroy North Korea's program and North Korea itself.

If thousands die, they're gonna die over there.

They're not gonna die here.

LAUER: Are you saying it's okay to use a military option that immediately endangers the lives of millions of people in that region?

GRAHAM: I'm saying it's inevitable unless North Korea changes.

JOY REID: Joining me now, Christine Ahn, founder of the group Women Cross DMZ.

And I want to get your take.

AHN: There would be obviously devastating consequences for the entire Korean peninsula.

Let the Korean people see peace on the Korean peninsula.

That's what they want.

We shouldn't allow peace and the Korean people to be held hostage by Trump at this moment.

Foreign policy and international relations has been the domain of men, of White men, of Korean men.

Are we ready to bust through that?

ALL: Yes.

- Yeah.

We believe women and women of color, immigrant women, Korean women that are impacted by U.S. foreign policies to be at the center, to put our voices forward.

We have to own this moment.

(people talking in background) AHN: Most Americans assume that hostile relations between the United States and North Korea began when North Korea started developing nuclear weapons.

In actuality, the conflict dates back to the end of World War II, when Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule, only to be divided by the United States in one of the first acts of the Cold War.

ANNOUNCER: This is Korea, a nation divided at the 38th parallel.

AHN: This arbitrary division separated families, entire towns, without consulting the Korean people.

And it set the North and South on a collision course, with the emerging governments of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea both determined to reunify the country, by force if necessary.

ANNOUNCER: June 1950.

North Korean troops cross the 38th parallel.

ANNOUNCER: The Security Council votes seven to one to recommend military support for the Republic of Korea.

ANNOUNCER: In four months, the United Nations forged certain victory in Korea.

ANNOUNCER: Then Communist China joined the war.

ANNOUNCER: President Truman has stated the atomic bomb is being considered.

It may well precipitate World War III.

AHN: Three years of fighting left three million Koreans dead.

In 1953, North Korea, China, and the U.S. signed a ceasefire agreement at Panmunjom.

The armistice stopped the fighting but failed to end the war.

Five years later, the U.S. introduced nuclear weapons on the peninsula.

ANNOUNCER: In a dramatic gesture by the United States, atomic weapons come to Korea.

On the scene, the Honest John rocket launcher and the 280-millimeter atomic cannon.

AHN: The 38th parallel became what was intended to be a temporary demilitarized zone, or DMZ.

(birds chirping) (weapon firing) (weapon firing) REPORTER: South Korea and the U.S. have begun their joint annual military exercise.

REPORTER: The combined U.S. and South Korean armies staged a mock attack about six kilometers from the North Korean border.

REPORTER: The exercise, called Foal Eagle, involved over 200,000 Koreans and 7,500 U.S. troops.

REPORTER: North Korea has protested these drills as provocative rehearsals for a possible invasion, and cited them as the reason for their increased missile tests.

REPORTER: The Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world.

MAN: I'm gonna turn the floor back over to Christine Ahn.

So, Christine.

AHN: Well, it's so important because the fact that only a ceasefire has languished on for nearly seven decades has meant that the United States and North Korea have been in a perpetual state of war.

We know now from studies that women being involved in peace processes, that there is a greater chance to reach a peace agreement.

And when we are there to help draft it, that they are far more durable.

So, I think it's time now for women to have a seat at the table.

When I was growing up, my parents shared very few details about the Korean War.

As a child, I didn't really think about Korea.

We just wanted to be Americans.

How I came to be interested in Korea and really even start to adopt my Korean identity was meeting Korean activists in my late 20s.

I got really schooled on Korean history and Korean social movements.

(crowd chanting in Korean) AHN: I was stunned to discover that there had been so much work towards peace and reconciliation from both Koreas, including multiple official attempts to end the war and establish peaceful relations.

(audience applauding) And that's when I decided to go to North Korea to meet the people who were supposed to be my enemy.

My family grew up literally taught that North Koreans were devils with red horns.

But in going to North Korea, a lot of the stereotypes were completely shattered.

I learned about how sanctions are hurting innocent people and the continued separation of millions of family members who have spent most of their lives without seeing their loved ones.

Two Ahns.

(speaking Korean): (talking in background) AHN: And I started wondering if there was a new approach we could try to finally bring closure to this forgotten war.

The Women Cross DMZ idea, it started really in December 2013.

I decided to organize a women's peace walk from North to South Korea.

The first person I reached out to was Gloria Steinem.

I said, "If we're able to do this women's peace walk across the DMZ, will you come?"

Just a few minutes later, she wrote right back, and she said, "I lost several classmates in that war.

"If I can help bring some healing, yes, I will walk with you."

We brought together 30 women, peacemakers from around the world, women that can talk about the impact of the unresolved Korean War, activists who can work across ideological and political lines.

It's pretty extraordinary, it's like this symphony.

Everybody plays these really unique and targeted roles.

(talking in background) AHN: So, welcome, everybody.

Let's give ourselves a round of applause!

(all cheer and applaud) Yay!

We made it!

A lot of eyes around the world are upon us, so we're gonna have to be as unified as possible going into this journey.

I thought it would be great for us to introduce ourselves.

EWA ERIKSSON FORTIER: Well, hello.

I'm Ewa Eriksson Fortier, I'm a Swedish national.

As I worked in Pyongyang for an extended period, I have a very deep attachment to the unresolved conflict.

Some people call it being bitten by the Pyongyang bug.

(laughing) So be prepared.

I teach modern Korean history at Rutgers University, which is the state university in New Jersey.

It's really strange, as a historian, to be part of history-making, as opposed to studying history.

My name is Vana Kim Hansen.

Korean name is Ban-Ah, Kim Ban-Ah.

Our family has been divided and spread all over the world because of the division.

I am the third generation working for peaceful reunification.

KOZUE AKIBAYASHI: My name is Kozue Akibayashi.

I'm from Japan.

I think it's very important for a Japanese citizen to be here, because the origin of the division of Korean peninsula goes back to 100 years ago when Japan colonized Korea.

My name is Netsai Mushonga, and I am from Zimbabwe.

When I was seven years old, I survived a war in my village that killed about 24 people.

So naturally, I'm opposed to war.

I'm opposed to violence against women.

STEINEM: I hope this is the beginning of an era in which people in, will no longer think of the women's movement as a, uh, silo over here, but will understand that it's connected to everything.

And as the oldest person, I would like to say I think this is the best organized, uh, you know, adventure, women's, I've ever been on.

(all laughing and applauding) So, this group right here, start to huddle.

MAIREAD MAGUIRE: I think we came here to be in solidarity with the women in South Korea and in North Korea.

(voiceover): In the north of Ireland, we had bombings, shootings, killings.

And in 1976, when my sister's three little children were all killed in a violent clash between British Army and an active service unit of the Irish Republican Army, it just was the spark for thousands and thousands of people, 90% women, coming out to march for peace, to say, "We can solve this without killing each other."

And it made room for the political leaders to move forward towards a peace process.

BENJAMIN: We really feel an obligation, as women, to try to, uh, stop wars.

(voiceover): When I was in high school during the Vietnam War, my sister got, as a present from her boyfriend in Vietnam, the ear of a Vietcong, and it so shocked me that it really directed my whole life to be against war and against militarism.

Not everyone will applaud us.

We are bound to face resistance.

(person applauding) OTHERS (murmuring): Yes.

- We are bound... (voiceover): My country, Liberia, was at war from 1989 till 2003.

We started the women's movement and did the protest for two-and-a-half years.

We were able to reach out to both the warring parties and the government, which contributed to the end of the Liberian War.

We have to think on our feet... WOMAN: Yeah.

- ...and do exactly what our gut will be telling us to do.

Anything that comes easy is not worth fighting for.

So... (others murmur and chuckle) (applauding) We have three goals for this peace walk.

One is replacing the armistice with a peace treaty.

If we could make a list and then divide it up, and also... AHN: Second is to reunite families.

- Whatever we send out, we agree to verbally... AHN: And the third is to lift up women's leadership...

So that also influences how we debrief.

...at all levels of the peace-building process.

(talking in background) AHN: Everybody is exhausted, but we're gonna raise a glass.

The beginning of a wonderful journey.

WOMAN: Yes.

AHN: Yes.

(voiceover): We made a very ambitious plan for ourselves.

We're going to walk across the DMZ.

Starting in North Korea... (talking in background, glasses clinking) ...and then crossing into South Korea.

After we fly to Pyongyang, we've arranged several days of meetings and a symposium in North Korea as we make our way down to the DMZ.

After crossing, we're going to meet up with our South Korean partners.

They're mobilizing 3,000 women to meet us on the southern side.

But because of repressive policies against peace and reunification activists by the Park Geun-hye administration, there was a climate of fear.

The government had been censoring the press and imprisoning opposition politicians.

It took the courage of a handful of South Korean women to basically say, "Okay, we're gonna do this."

(talking in background) JINOCK LEE: In the beginning, many Korean feminists were kind of very critical that famous first-world White women come to Korea, when Korean women activists are doing so much already.

But political activism was completely suppressed by the government.

If we using this chance, we can draw attention, particularly international attention, to the Korean War.

(speaking Korean): (speaking Korean): (voiceover): In Korea, conservative and liberal is very strong.

If you're not with us... (chuckling): ...you're against us.

So, a lot of people thought that Women Cross DMZ may be manipulated, in a political way, by North Korea and South Korea.

AHN KIM JEONG AE (speaking Korean): (woman speaking Korean) WOMAN (speaking Korean): (speaking Korean): (woman counts in Korean) ALL: Cheese.

(women speaking Korean) HAN: To hear there's international women who will cross the DMZ, something that we cannot do yet, a Korean woman cannot do yet, was very meaningful.

I was responsible for jogakbo.

It's like a Korean quilt.

And then I asked Y.W.C.A., because I am a board member.

Many people keep talking about all these boundaries.

"You cannot do this.

"It's gonna hurt your business, it's gonna hurt your reputation."

Myself, I can risk.

But more than 90,000 members and 52 local Y.W.C.A.

For us, it was literally each stitch we made, "Let's pray about peace."

"Let's really think about peace."

SUZY KIM: The armistice was signed at Panmunjom.

As women peacemakers that are wanting to see the end of the Korean War and to say that the DMZ is permeable and crossable, then we have to be able to go to the site where the armistice was signed.

AHN: The Joint Security Area, also known as Panmunjom, is within the DMZ.

It's the only place where soldiers from opposite sides stand face-to-face.

The North Korean military controls the northern side.

The South Korean side is controlled by the U.S.-led U.N. Command.

Panmunjom has played center stage for decades of conflict, symbolizing the division between North and South.

Running through the center of the Joint Security Area is the Military Demarcation Line, the official border separating North and South Korea.

Where we would cross is that, basically, one little brick.

STEINEM: The corridor.

AHN: Yeah, basically that little, like, cement line that divides between the north and the south side.

After crossing into the South, we would meet up with our South Korean sister committee at Imjingak Park.

SUZY KIM: But the South Korean government has come back and told us that they want us to cross through the highway from Kaesong.

There wouldn't be nearly the symbolic significance if we were to cross through the highway.

We just wanted to know what the South Korean committee has been discussing and what they've been, what you're all thinking about this.

LEE (on phone): The policy of ours is that you cross at Panmunjom no matter what.

Basically, South Korean government has said that they won't stop you, but they are not in position to grant official permission.

The final decision is up to U.N. commander.

SUZY KIM: The question is, for us as international women, do we still cross if we, we don't have quite an approval?

(group agrees) And I just wanted to add one more dimension, which is the North Korean side.

LEE (on phone): Yeah.

AHN: This is underlined.

"We really hope "that any kind of unexpected, unnecessary act "which could spark a conflict between the North and the South would not arise within the Panmunjom zone."

ANN WRIGHT: If we go to Panmunjom, we don't want to have this... - Right.

- ...to be an international... - To be the conduit.

- ...blowup between... (women talking in background) The North and the South Korean women are saying, "Yes, cross at Panmunjom," and I feel that that's something we have come to do.

BENJAMIN: So I think we have to know what our plan is if they won't let us cross there.

How far do we push?

Who's pushing?

What's the way we push?

- Mm-hmm.

SUZY KIM: No, I mean, I think it looks good.

AHN: Okay.

And you just start from the top and just start reading it?

(voiceover): I went to North Korea three times to talk about my proposal, basically sketching out what we hoped to achieve.

This is, like, a genuine peace and reconciliation effort.

And so, basically, they said, "Okay, we like this idea, and I think we can do it."

But the North Koreans started to backpedal.

SUZY KIM: Christine and I have had to basically go to the DPRK U.N. mission to get their approval about the walk.

One of the questions that we got was, "Why women?"

And I said, "There's a long history of international efforts for peace by women on the peninsula."

During the Korean War, the U.S. launched an air-bombing campaign that leveled the North.

The civilian death toll was mounting when President Truman announced that he was considering using the atomic bomb.

North Korean women asked international women to come to Korea to document the war from the women's perspective.

21 women from 17 countries went as a delegation.

They end up writing a report.

Numbers of people that were killed at various places, very specific buildings, schools, hospitals, churches that were destroyed.

The official report asks the United Nations to stop immediately the bombing and arrive at a peaceful settlement of the war.

The women were basically seen as na ve and as Soviet stooges.

But they played such an important role in making the international community aware about the terrible impact that this conflict was having.

AHN: After we brought up the 1951 international delegation, basically, I got the message, "You did it.

You can have the peace walk."

REPORTER: A prominent women's activist group is planning a controversial walk across the Demilitarized Zone.

North Korean government officials have given the green light for the walk apparently sanctioned by Kim Jong Un.

Is he in league with the women's group to promote peace between North and South Korea?

(camera shutter clicks) AHN: It was all around the world.

"North Korea gives approval to the women for the peace walk."

And I get an email from the Wolf Blitzer show.

"We're running with a segment.

"These experts are accusing you "of being a North Korean apologist, "and that Gloria Steinem is being duped to be basically a propaganda tool for North Korea."

They have views that are fairly pro-Kim regime, pro-North Korean.

REPORTER: Ahn says the notion that she's a North Korean sympathizer is flat-out inaccurate.

Basically, that is a Cold War, McCarthyist mentality.

I am pro-peace, I am pro-engagement, I am pro-dialogue.

REPORTER: The U.N., the State Department, and human rights groups say Kim's regime routinely represses women, throwing them in prison camps, subjecting them to rape, torture.

What does Gloria Steinem think of all of this?

When we asked about North Korea's record with women and the comments that the group she's aligned herself with is pro-North Korean, she says, "I am proceeding on the advice of women I trust and who know the region, including Christine," a reference to Christine Ahn.

Our purpose is to formally end the Korean War by replacing the current armistice agreement with a peace treaty.

Therefore, we are officially requesting cooperation from the U.N. Command to cross the DMZ at Panmunjom.

How would you address skeptics who say, uh, you guys are na ve or, uh, this could be used by North Korean government as part of their propaganda?

BENJAMIN: A number of us here work on several other issues, such as Iran and Cuba.

President Obama said himself, "If you've been doing something for 50 years "that hasn't changed the situation, let's try something different."

STEINEM: The point is that engagement and talk is much more likely to, uh, achieve the kinds of goals we want than isolation.

We feel that it's important that we try reaching out, doing with our physical selves what we hope can be done politically.

(camera shutters clicking) WOMAN: All right?

WOMAN: Okay.

AHN: A year before our peace walk, the U.N. released a report about the variety of human rights abuses taking place in North Korea.

The strongest criticisms we received was that we weren't taking the human rights situation seriously.

But we are doing what the report has as part of its recommendations: there needs to be greater people-to-people engagement.

The unresolved war is very much a part of the human rights crisis in North Korea.

ERIKA GUEVARA: My participation here as a human rights activist, as a human rights lawyer, has received criticism.

Precisely because I'm coming to a country that has an appalling record on human rights.

I'm here not to endorse any government.

I'm here to endorse the struggles for peace.

BLITZER: Breaking news, a group of prominent women from around the world, they're now in North Korea preparing to make a daring, potentially risky demonstration for peace.

(speaking Korean) REPORTER: 40 female activists embark on a peace march for an end to the Korean War.

They'll start in Pyongyang and cross the DMZ into South Korea.

REPORTER: They will hold a symposium in Pyongyang and have discussions with DPRK women to exchange thoughts on ending violence and war.

(people talking in background) SUZY KIM: As a Korean American who was partly educated in South Korea, I remember, even as a first-grader, we would create anti-Communist posters.

They would have speech contests denouncing communism and the need to defeat North Korea.

South Koreans were educated that North Koreans were devils with, you know, horns on their heads.

BENJAMIN: To be in a place that people are so reverent about their leader...

I have a natural rebellion against authority.

I've had it since I was a little kid.

But we would never have been able to get into North Korea if we had said, "North Korea is this horribly repressive regime."

That's not how diplomacy works.

You have to take countries where they are at and try to move them a little bit.

(women laughing) We're gonna do this update.

I feel kind of bad because the other bus doesn't really have the update.

But basically last night, Hyung-Kyung, Vana... (voiceover): Most people that travel to North Korea, they come here with preconceived notions.

That the people have no independent free thinking.

And that the entire population has been brainwashed.

But I wanted the delegation to be able to just really experience the North Korean people... BENJAMIN (speaking Korean): AHN: ...as human beings.

(speaking Korean, laughing) ABIGAIL DISNEY: You look beautiful.

(girls speaking Korean, laughing) (woman speaking Korean) CHANG YAE SUN: Is everybody here?

AHN: The North Korean partners picked the various locations for us to visit.

This dormitory was built here in this site.

So we'll follow this route.

AHN: We knew that our access would be limited.

So, we specifically asked to see parts of North Korean society related to women and children.

(people talking in background) (speaking Korean) CHANG: At the time of its completion, it didn't have any beds, but Marshal Kim Jong Un said they need to have beds.

So, they had all the rooms furnished with these kinds of, these kind of beds in just one month.

Yeah, this is for... - Like, seven single people, or a family, or... (woman speaking Korean) CHANG: For girls.

AIYOUNG CHOI: Unmarried, single... - Unmarried, single.

- Single girls.

So, if they want to get married, they have to leave here.

Only the single ones stay in the dormitory.

And when, when they get married, they go to live with their husband.

TAKAZATO: Oh, I see.

- What if you wanted to work here and you got here and you didn't like it?

WOMAN: Pardon?

Sorry, I didn't get the point.

- If you started the work and you didn't like... - If you want to work here, you can.

If you don't want to work here, you can leave.

- Oh, you can leave... - At any time.

At any time.

Oh, (muted), okay, for international call, dial 60.

And 00.

BLITZER: Hey, Gay, it's Wolf.

Thanks so much for doing this.

GAY DILLINGHAM: Sure, I wanted you to know that Gloria Steinem is here with me, as well.

Okay.

(quietly): He'll ask me a question, then you a question.

Joining us on the phone from Pyongyang right now, the filmmaker Gay Dillingham and Gloria Steinem from the United States.

Gay, quickly to you-- tell us what's going on.

How have you been received so far?

I will say, compared to when you and I came, December 2010, there's a new airport being built, quite a bit more traffic.

A very warm reception with our hosts, which are a number of different women's groups here on the ground in North Korea.

BLITZER: Gloria, tell us what the mission is all about-- what do you hope to achieve?

STEINEM: We hope to cross the DMZ peacefully and show that it is a temporary, and was always intended to be a temporary, division.

BLITZER: And do you think you'll have a chance to meet with Kim Jong Un?

STEINEM: We are not asking to meet with any officials.

This is a walk of women on behalf of women.

BLITZER: Well, we want to stay in close touch, Gloria.

Good luck to you, be careful over there.

STEINEM: Thank you.

WOMAN: Here, I'm going to take a picture of you.

(device clicks, women exclaiming and laughing) (speaking Korean) - I'm the head of this kindergarten.

Since 1979, we have gathered children who are fond of music and who have skills in music.

And those children, they grew up to be famous musicians.

(piano playing) (audience laughs quietly) (piano continues) (all singing in Korean) (piano continues) (applauding) (song ends) (applauding) (playing softly) STEINEM: Seeing the performance of children in North Korea-- incredibly talented, but controlled in every detail.

(piece continues) Not an ounce of free self-expression.

(talking and laughing in background) DISNEY: The kindergarten was this very choreographed experience, and the kids were obviously all assigned something to be doing for our benefit.

(speaking Korean) DISNEY: I'm trying to police myself about my prejudices.

But I also don't want to lose my healthy, healthy skepticism about what is really happening behind the curtain.

(speaking Korean): AHN: As we watched the children, there was so much interpretation and analysis that was going on.

It was hard for the international women to understand that because the North Koreans are presenting their children to women that are from countries that look down on them, that are constantly portraying them in this critical, negative light, they make it look as nice and fancy as possible.

But they went over the top.

So much gets in the way of being able to have just a, just connect.

STEINEM: For me, the duality is that I feel drawn to and in communication with people, and aware all the time of hyper control.

We were being shown what they wanted us to see.

But you learn almost as much from what you are shown... (people talking in background) ...as what you are not shown.

We saw a musical production of great skill and beauty with lyrics that were about U.S. imperialism and bombing during the Korean War.

Bombing from which the North did indeed suffer.

This fear is being kept carefully alive.

I'm working really hard to figure out how to reconcile my presence here with my values.

(audience applauds) It struck me how deep these divisions are and how wide the gulf is between us.

(people talking in background) AHN: As we know, in mid-April, the Ministry of Unification in South Korea, they requested that an official letter be sent from a North Korean entity to them requesting an official crossing.

North Korea had written in their letter that they would like an official response back.

They never got it.

So, the North Korean government does not feel that our safety would be assured if there's not agreement between the two militaries to allow our crossing.

BRINTON LYKES: Are you saying that there needs to be a formal response from the South to the North?

AHN: Exactly-- there has never been an official response to the North Korean government.

One thing that both South and North side um, were telling us is an accident.

If any accident, a trigger, happened and one side shoots a gun, that's what they're afraid of.

WOMAN: Yeah, so that's why... AHN: North Korea's not gonna send us if there's not an official response back from the South Korean side.

We are in this situation right now where we're running out of time.

AIYOUNG CHOI: I think our options are just getting more and more limited because of the stance that the, uh, South Korean government.

They don't want us to cross the DMZ.

GUEVARA: We need to come up with a new strategy, because they are not going to respond if we don't put any pressure.

WRIGHT: We need to really consider getting our media team to blow this story up.

"No news from South Korea, we're stalled."

- Okay.

AHN: And so I think Gloria's gonna start.

STEINEM: All right.

Okay, fire away.

AHN: As of today, there is no official response from the U.N. Command or even from South Korea.

We're being stonewalled because the South Korean government does not want to say no, and they don't want to be perceived to be saying no, but they would really rather we not walk.

So, the only obstacle here is the South Korean government communicating directly with the North Korean government... TALMADGE: Mm-hmm.

- ...in a formal way, giving permission and assuring the safety of the walkers.

And this Orwellian experience we're having is yet more and more illustration of how insane and wasteful and cruel and, uh, outdated this boundary is.

Well, I'm gonna go start writing, so... AHN: Okay.

- Okay.

(people talking in background) BENJAMIN: How many months is she?

- 14 weeks.

- 14 weeks.

- Yes.

- And what is... What kind of problems does she have?

- No, just the regular... - She just came for the sonogram?

- Regular checkup.

- And then she goes home.

- No, no, no.

- She stays here now?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Until she gives birth?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

- Why?

- The same, just checking.

(phone ringing) Just taking care of her baby.

- So they come very early.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- In the U.S., we come when we're ready to deliver.

Like, right-- you wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, and then you come.

- Really?

- Just at the moment you deliver.

Yeah, 'cause they don't want to pay so much money in the hospital.

(laughs) - No, no money.

WOMAN: You pay nothing.

- Nothing.

- Do you pay for medicine?

- Nothing.

- No?

- No, no, nothing.

All are, all are provided by the government.

(talking in background) GBOWEE: On this trip, I've had some very difficult moral questions about where I come from.

In Liberia, we claim freedom, and we have a lot of resources.

But we have nothing on North Korea.

This is a place where we know it's not as free as the rest of the world.

But I walk into the women's hospital and the children's hospital, and I tell myself that at least they're trying to provide basic services to make the lives of their people better.

So, what is freedom?

AHN: Tell me a little bit about your plans.

Like, do you plan to work before you get married?

- Yeah, I will... - After we get married, too.

Yeah, we get married because we like to, we'd like to make some contributions to the country as mothers.

AHN: Mm-hmm.

- Because, you know, mothers, prolific mothers in our country are honored with the title of hero, even the heroine.

They're honored with the title of heroines, and so... Yeah, but, and being mother, being a mother is kind of an elegant job, no?

(both chuckle) And so, we'd like to make a contribution as a worker, as one of the workers of this country, and as a mother of this country.

And we'll try our best.

AHN: How do you feel about the fact that international women can cross the DMZ, but you, as Korean women, cannot?

- Mm, it's a pity.

But we really appreciate those foreign women from all over the world taking concern about this problem, so I really appreciate that.

- Most of you are from, from America.

(both chuckle) And there's the most important and, what makes me so surprised.

AHN: Why?

Can you say why?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, because, um...

There is, like, the confrontation between the Korea and the U.S.A.

So, it's, like, the government vs. government, and people vs. people, which I thought that.

- What we are against is their, their policy, the U.S. government's policy towards the DPRK.

We're against its hostile policy towards the DPRK.

We're not against the U.S. people.

AHN: Here we are, 30 prominent international women peacemakers, with a explicit message.

DILLINGHAM: Right.

AHN: Our North Korean counterparts were very eager for us to visit the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

They felt it was important for us to pay homage to the founder of North Korea.

SUZY KIM: Any site that's related to the leader, it's a very complicated terrain.

The media for both North and South Korea, they're going to have their agenda.

Whatever you say could potentially be taken out of context and out of our control.

How about that, Gay?

DILLINGHAM: Okay.

- Do you want me to type it out?

- We are-- yeah.

AHN: We decided to not go to the Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il statues.

The compromise we worked out was that we would visit the birthplace of Kim Il Sung.

WOMAN: Hello.

Women, I welcome you to this place.

I am a local guide at this place.

Now, shall we go?

(talking in background) AHN: But we had hard discussions and conversations.

Those of us who are in the United States have already had to deal so much with, "We're just North Korean sympathizers."

And so, if there are images that show us in this kind of situation, I think that could be just very inflammatory.

STEINEM: Are there two things?

One is what we do to be respectful, and the other is what we're photographed doing.

Because what we're photographed doing is what we will appear to be supporting.

(speaking Korean): (speaking Korean): BENJAMIN: I don't get it, because if we're going to the birthplace of Kim Il Sung, those are things that are obviously paying respect that we, as women, rebels, um, human rights activists, don't feel comfortable.

STEINEM: Yeah, but that, it's different to go to someone's birthplace, it seems to me.

We're not going to the statues.

WOMAN: This place be called Mangyongdae.

Here we can see the picture of president.

Our president with the family members.

Three generation, even though they live a very poor life, all the family members were ardent patriots, great revolutionaries.

AHN: There was, like, tons of media there, and journalists from Rodong Sinmun, which is their domestic paper, pulled me aside and said, "What do you think of the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung?"

You know, I have to be careful.

The way that I've been portrayed by conservative media, clearly, I'm a target for all this vitriol and anger.

And I said, "My mother "lived through the Japanese colonial occupation.

"She told me "that Kim Il Sung was an independence fighter, fighting for the liberation of Korea."

This is a historical fact.

And I thought, "How could I go wrong?"

(camera shutter clicks) (newscaster speaking Korean) REPORTER (speaking Korean): LEE: South Korean media has been really, really crazy since Christine's remarks about Kim Il Sung.

We really need to find out whether it was true what Christine had said in North Korea.

What we have found out is that my emails and Christine's emails had been censored.

So, those important emails didn't go.

REPORTER: The group was accused of having a pro-North Korea stance after North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that the group's organizer, Christine Ahn, had praised Kim Il Sung at his birthplace.

INSOOK CHOI (speaking Korean): (speaking Korean): (all shouting and chanting in Korean) AHN KIM (speaking Korean): SUZY KIM: For decades in South Korea, military dictatorships used the National Security Law to target anyone the government deemed a threat.

People were tortured and sent to prison for decades.

Human rights groups have been campaigning for a long time to abolish that legislation, but without success.

(person shouting in Korean) SUZY KIM: In 1989, a South Korean student leader named Lim Su-Kyung traveled to North Korea to take part in the World Festival of Youth and Students and the International Peace March.

When she and the other members of the peace march arrived in Panmunjom, they demanded to cross the DMZ into the South.

LIM (speaking Korean): (man speaking Korean) SUZY KIM: After a six-day hunger strike, she and Father Moon were finally allowed to cross, but they were immediately arrested because they had disobeyed the National Security Law.

(all shouting and chanting in Korean) SUZY KIM: There are many cases that have been prosecuted under this law.

Anyone working for reconciliation and peace with North Korea has to be concerned about whether this law could be applied to them.

REPORTER: South Korea said it was deporting a Korean American woman for violating the National Security Law.

Shin Eun-Mi was accused of praising North Korea in a post she made online.

Shin will be barred from entering South Korea for the next five years.

(people talking in background) The original plan was that after women, they cross over the DMZ, we wanted to walk together, and then concert starts.

But just, like, last moment, we had about, without any exaggeration, about six or seven cancellation.

Chorus team was canceled.

Singers, they thought it was high-risk.

So, until the last moment, was every day, literally, cancellation.

(people talking in background) AHN: What are we doing that is so threatening, you know?

And the way that they're framing it and casting it is that we are the violators of human rights.

The criticism is, is... WOMAN: Is that we didn't actually get to talk about it.

- Is that we came here and, right, and didn't focus on that issue.

WOMAN: No, the issue is that we came here at all.

They are distorting our content, so we ought to at least stake a claim to our real content.

AHN: Yeah, yeah.

HYE-JUNG PARK: Today, 2:30, the South Korea, um, uh, Ministry of Military Defense, they sent a telegram to North Korea military.

They said, "To pass Panmunjom is, um, uh, "a violation of armistice treaty.

"So, we don't permit.

"However, we will allow you to come in through Kaesong Road."

AHN: They're saying that it's illegal.

It's illegal if you cross that line in Panmunjom.

COLEEN BAIK: There is a sense of disappointment that I feel, and I think that a lot of us do, right?

I will follow group's wisdom, but I have to convey the message from South Korean committee.

We still want you to consider crossing Panmunjom.

Maybe we could ask for a small delegation of people-- three or four is all we need-- who would be prepared to walk, go to the DMZ and try to go through Panmunjom.

Vana and Jean and Hyung-Kyung are at most danger.

I think we are ready to go to the prison.

I would not want us to divide ourselves, and I realize that that's not my decision, because I do think it looks as if we can't unite ourselves, much less... WOMAN: That's true.

- ...anyone else.

I just want to cross the 38th parallel with all of you.

We do need international support for, literally, hundred thousand of Koreans in Japan, so that they can visit their families in, on both sides or anywhere in Korea.

Maybe we are also very emotional about this because we are, we want to claim something, but I think that if we really look at the whole struggle, there are not just 30 women.

We should be always speaking to, of this whole movement.

For me, we are already crossing the line, no matter what.

We need to be united in this, even if we have different visions, different sentiments, different perspectives.

But we need to make a decision.

And it seems like there is consensus here around the room that we all go together... - As a group.

- ...as a group and... - No split.

- No split.

- No split.

- Crossing at Kaesong.

Is there a consensus in the room?

WOMAN: Yes.

WOMAN: Yes, yes, yes, yes... (women talking in background) AHN: Suzy, Suzy, look!

SUZY KIM: Oh, my God.

- Oh, my God.

KIM JONG SUK (speaking Korean): We are walking to call for the official end of the Korean War by replacing the armistice agreement with peace treaty, help reunite Korean families tragically separated by an unwanted division.

(playing fast-paced tune) (women chanting in Korean) (chanting): (band playing) (chanting in Korean) (band continues) All the questions start coming up of, who are these women?

And who called these women?

Are they here voluntarily?

(women chanting in Korean) Why is it just one chant that keeps coming out from them?

(women chanting in Korean) What would happen if a woman thought of something else that she wanted to chant?

It couldn't possibly happen in this context, could it?

But then, I also thought, "These are real people."

(women chanting in Korean) And so then I started to actually look at them and wave to them and make eye contact.

The women really looked at you in the eye, and then they would brighten up with a big smile.

(speaking Korean) GBOWEE: This is a place in my mind where there was no life.

(women speaking Korean) GBOWEE: But you see the yearning for greater connection with the rest of the world.

(speaking Korean) GBOWEE: 5,000 women showed up and saw 30 international women.

I believe it gave them hope.

(cheering and applauding) WOMAN (speaking Korean): (applauding) Members of this international delegation are here because we want to communicate.

We want more dialogue.

We want to learn from you and also to share our experiences.

(speaking Korean): INTERPRETER: They took my father, my uncle... FORTIER: What struck me was how much unresolved emotion they still carry.

(speaking Korean): FORTIER: I think it was difficult for them to express what they had to share, not knowing how we would receive what they were sharing.

(speaking Korean): INTERPRETER: I lost my hands during the Korean War.

RI: INTERPRETER: I'm now 72 years old.

RI: (crying): INTERPRETER: It was worse than death.

RI: INTERPRETER: That is why I hope... DISNEY: All I could think about was how real and alive it was for them.

And how not real and alive that war is for Americans.

I've made films about women in wartime, and I've heard that story and that story and that story in every country we've worked in.

It confirms what I know, which is, no matter where they are, no matter what the conflict, a woman's experience in war is the same.

(talking in background) (camera shutters clicking) (chuckling) (audience applauding, women singing in Korean) (audience clapping in rhythm) (all cheer and applaud) SUZY KIM: The latest news that we just got is that the militaries of the two sides have communicated, and they have agreed that the South Korean shuttle that is being sent to collect us will be allowed to cross the DMZ into the North Korean side to actually get us.

(applauding) ALL: Wow.

WOMAN: That's progress.

WOMAN: We're crossing on foot, though, right?

SUZY KIM: No, so, we won't.

They basically said that the two militaries have agreed that there will be absolutely no walking.

GBOWEE: We got this permission to walk.

And all of a sudden-- I mean, it's, like, turning the table.

We have been outmaneuvered in, at every single opportunity on this trip, and I think we should assert ourselves.

ANN PATTERSON: I honestly think we should stand outside the bus, put our banners out, and say, "We're walking."

But even if they only allow us to walk 100 yards, we will have walked.

MUSHONGA: Building peace is about taking risks.

So, for me, I think this is one step we should really take.

In my experience in Colombia, you commit, commit any mistake, in any way, you know, is immediately we are in risk.

My sense is that they will not give us space to do anything.

WOMAN: No.

- They will make sure that we will safely move over, and that's it.

But I don't feel that I will want to do something spontaneous.

So, I think one of the problems is that we're a group that's very different.

And we have people in this group who won Nobel Peace Prizes because they confront injustice straight on.

And we have people here who've never done that.

And we have people who didn't think they were coming into this to confront the military, so we're a very different group.

And I think because of that, if we don't want to divide the group, then I think we have to water down our actions.

And I would propose, then, as a compromise, that Christine and Ann talk to the military and tell them we really want to walk, that we were told that we could walk, and let's see what you can negotiate.

AHN: That's what I was thinking.

Let's try that-- we'll do our best.

CHUNG: Christine, I, I hesitate whether I should say this or not, but my latest email I got from Jinock, Korean government is considering not, not allow you to come back to Korea for many years.

And also, they are very, very worried about Jean.

So we have to be really super-careful.

Even walking-- I really ask Christine walk between Leymah and Gloria arm to arm.

GBOWEE: Okay, so everybody walk arm to arm, so that it's not so obvious that we're protecting a few persons.

AHN: Everybody's anxiety is about walking into the unknown.

Not only do we not know what the DMZ is like, when we get to the other side, we have no idea.

(sighs): The worst-case scenario is violence.

But I don't know, I, I guess there's a part of me that says, "When you do this kind of work, "you take these calculated risks, and you do it because you believe that something has to shift."

(people talking in background) WOMAN: We are in the DMZ at the moment.

DMZ covers two kilometers from the north.

And also from the south, they will have two kilometers DMZ area.

AHN: Although we weren't able to negotiate our crossing at Panmunjom, we were allowed a visit as the last stop on our North Korean tour.

(talking in background) WOMAN: Come on, everyone.

So this place is a very historic one because the armistice agreement was made on July the 27th, 1953.

To see the building where the armistice was signed, and then looking into the Joint Security Area, was quite remarkable.

AHN: To be at Panmunjom on the Northern side and look over into the South, and to not be able to simply walk across the line to the Southern side was quite frustrating.

It just highlighted the absurdity of this division.

Instead of crossing at Panmunjom, we had to go back to Kaesong.

We have to say goodbye to our, our North Korean sisters.

You're very smart, you're very whole-hearted.

- Thank you for the support.

- Whole-heart.

Yeah, please send our warm regards to South Korean women.

STEINEM: I, I will, we will.

I hope I didn't take you away from your boys too much.

AHN (speaking Korean): (talking in background) WOMAN (speaking Korean): (engine rumbling) WRIGHT: We went into the DMZ, and then we stopped to negotiate with U.S. military forces about our getting to walk in the DMZ.

STEINEM: We just want to be walking.

U.N.

COMMANDER: I understand that that is the intent, but there are media waiting for you... - Right.

- ...just a few hundred meters down the road.

HANSEN: The way they talked to us, I really felt at that time the U.S. soldiers were in control of this peninsula, and not the Koreans.

U.N.

COMMANDER: ...the first blue sign?

STEINEM: Yes.

- That is the Military Demarcation Line.

I believe we will meet their intent if they dismount at the southern portion of the Tongil Bridge.

They agreed to let us cross on the south side of the Tongil Bridge.

That's not quite the DMZ, but it's within a distance for us to walk where the press will be able to see us walking.

WOMAN: Passports!

WOMAN: Passports!

MAN: Are we on this bus all the way to Seoul?

WOMAN: Yeah.

WOMAN: We have to bring everything.

(talking in background) BENJAMIN: When we got to the other side, it was chaos.

(talking in background) INSOOK CHOI (speaking Korean): AHN KIM (speaking Korean): GBOWEE: Just as we were profiled coming into North Korea, I think we were seriously profiled also coming into South Korea.

Bags were searched thoroughly.

And if you have a book on Kim Il Sung, it was confiscated from you.

BENJAMIN: I received this form telling me of the limitations on foreigners' activities in South Korea, and that if I violated those, I would be subject to deportation.

AHN: I could see where this was going, and basically, they were asking me to sign it.

There are five people on the list that got this thing requesting us to sign the National Security Law, basically saying that we're not gonna say anything political.

What is this?

I didn't get a chance to read it.

AHN: Oh, Suzy got one, too.

- Not all-- not all... (murmuring) AHN: Hopefully you guys didn't sign it.

WOMAN: No.

WOMAN: No.

BENJAMIN: And nobody else got it?

WOMAN: No.

AHN: Yeah.

So they said it was at random, but, clearly, it wasn't at random.

(laughs) What we will focus on now is, how do we cross this DMZ of journalists?

AHN: I know, right?

(talking in background) (camera shutters clicking) STEINEM: Thank you so much for your interest in our return.

We are feeling very much as if we have accomplished what no one said could be done.

GBOWEE: This has been an incredible journey for me as an African and a survivor of war.

We didn't think it was gonna be possible to cross the DMZ.

We've done it, we've met women, we interacted with them, were able to observe the life of women in North Korea.

(speaking Korean): I would like to say, unequivocally, that those statements attributed to Christine Ahn are absolutely not true.

Right?

Not true.

Absolutely not true-- you should be grateful to her.

She is a heroine of this trip, so just cut it out, okay?

(laughing) (cheering and applauding) SUZY KIM: Now we're on our way to walk with the women of South Korea.

(speaking Korean): REPORTER: We actually see some protesters here where I am.

They say, sure, it's a peace march, but that's just symbolic, and it doesn't highlight these human rights abuses that we know are happening in North Korea.

REPORTER: Defectors from the North condemn the peace visit.

(translated): This is a so-called peace march, but there is no peace here.

Kim Jong Un's nuclear ambitions and hostile acts towards the South prevents peace.

The women have yet to be critical of the North.

This is a fraud.

HAN: About 500 demonstrator came.

Most of them is defectors who is the radical conservative side.

STEINEM: I certainly defend the right of picketers to picket us, because if we were in North Korea, they couldn't.

It is about freedom, so, more power to them.

(speaking Korean): PARK: They're South Korean supporters.

FORTIER: Wow.

Are they the ones on the other side?

PARK: Yeah, they're our people, our people.

(talking in background) MIJEONG CHOI (speaking Korean): (singing in Korean) (cheering and applauding) (camera shutters clicking) (talking in background) (all cheering) LEE: Mobilizing the peace walk, I think, sparked the revitalization of women's peace movement in South Korea.

South Korean women at the moment are so active about peace treaty and peace movement in general.

Of all the things that have happened since we've been here, it's all outweighed by what we're gonna leave behind as an image.

These women talking about peace in the most militarized place on Earth.

INSOOK CHOI (speaking Korean): (talking, cheering) (music playing) INSOOK CHOI: - (speaking Korean): (cheering and applauding) (singing in Korean) (cheering and applauding) AHN: It was really meaningful to see so many South Koreans turn out.

It opened up the hope that under the right conditions, peace on the Korean peninsula might be possible in our lifetime.

(firing) REPORTER: 10,000 U.S. troops are participating in the annual military training between Seoul and Washington.

REPORTER: Pyongyang slammed the drills, calling it a provocative action.

REPORTER: Just two weeks ago, Kim tested an ICBM into space.

REPORTER: This missile potentially powerful enough to reach Alaska.

They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.

AHN: In 2017, we were terrified by the prospect of a U.S. preemptive strike on North Korea.

North Korea has again seized the world's attention with a new nuclear blast.

The United States is ready, willing, and able.

We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

The United States has been saying to our own citizens, "Be ready for war."

And we are saying, "We do not want war."

AHN: Our message of peace was being drowned out by the threat of a new Korean War.

REPORTER: Kim Jong Un claims they are now able to hit the entire United States at any time.

AHN: But after the North tested an ICBM that could strike the United States... (music playing) ...South Korea's newly elected president stepped in with a bold new peace initiative.

REPORTER: North and South Korea marched together under the same flag with messages of peace.

REPORTER: The United States and South Korea have agreed to delay joint military exercises until after the Winter Olympics.

REPORTER: For now, there's hope that the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics is the catalyst for a reboot in inter-Korean relations.

REPORTER (on TV): North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived.

He will greet the South Korean leader at the Military Demarcation Line.

(audience applauding on TV) REPORTER: Kim Jong Un walking across the dividing line into the South.

And together, they stepped back, for a moment, onto North Korean soil.

(audience applauding) The two leaders emerged from their summit to declare their intention to end the conflict permanently.

(speaking Korean): (speaking Korean): (camera shutters clicking) TRUMP: Things have changed very radically from a few months ago.

You know, the name calling and a lot of other things.

REPORTER: It's an astonishing turn of events.

The president, who once said negotiating with North Korea was a waste of time, accepts the offer.

(camera shutters clicking) REPORTER: The first-ever meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader produced a broad declaration to work towards ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons and developing a peace treaty between the United States and North Korea.

(audience applauding) Thank you, thank you, everybody.

AHN: It felt like the stars were finally aligning, that real peace could actually happen.

Instead of demanding total denuclearization, Trump signaled a willingness to adopt a phased approach, which would involve good-faith steps taken by North Korea and reciprocal steps from the U.S. As the year came to an end, we watched North and South Korean soldiers demine portions of the DMZ.

The two governments opened a joint liaison office in Kaesong.

North Korea blew up a testing site and undertook a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing.

A round of reunions was allowed to take place.

Families divided by the war saw each other for the first time in nearly 70 years.

Can you believe that we're talking about the ending of the Korean War?

You're talking about 70 years.

(horns honking) REPORTER: The capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, is set to host the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. in the past has demanded moves by North Korea before the U.S. made moves.

Now both sides are talking about phased-approach, simultaneous steps both can take.

(horns honking) Then, of course, there is the question of the declaration of the end of the Korean War.

AHN: I called my daughter the morning of the summit, and I said, "This is the day "that Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are gonna declare an end to the Korean War."

REPORTER: The stage is set in Hanoi for the most high-stakes talks between the leaders of North Korea and the United States.

The summit starts in the coming hours.

(sirens wailing) AHN: And then, by lunch, the news broke.

REPORTER: The table was set, but the diners didn't show.

TRUMP: Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn't do that.

REPORTER: But in a press conference, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho refuted the president's claim.

(speaking Korean): They were willing to de-nuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn't give up all of the sanctions for that.

AHN: In the end, Trump abandoned the phased approach, and demanded unilateral disarmament of North Korea's nuclear weapons, the same deal the U.S. has pushed and the North has rejected for decades.

I could have signed an agreement today, and then you people would have said, "Oh, what a terrible deal, what a terrible thing he did."

But sometimes you have to walk.

AHN: We wanted them to declare the end of the war and establish... (voiceover): In spite of the stalemate between the U.S. and North Korea, we launched a new strategy.

A global women's campaign for a peace treaty.

We're partnering with groups at the United Nations, with women leaders from the South Korean peace movement, while continuing to connect with North Korean women whenever possible.

Our peace walk opened doors to new opportunities, and we began holding meetings with Congress members receptive to our message of peace.

Working with grassroots groups from across the country, we started pushing for a Congressional resolution to end the Korean War.

STEINEM: Thanks to a handful of courageous, forward-looking leaders, there is now a House resolution calling for a peace agreement that would end the Korean War.

(audience applauding) (voiceover): The U.S. was the major force in creating the division, and now, it's 70 years later.

So I think we have an obligation to be at least as much involved in peace as we were in war.

AHN: We really believe the U.S. is the biggest obstacle towards a peace treaty.

We need all of us to speak out.

MAGUIRE: Situations where there's deep historical conflict, there's no one-all solution to it.

But the walls you have to first work on is the walls in people's minds.

HAN: It was one of the most difficult journey I ever took, yet it was definitely worth every step.

We absolutely need the solidarity of the international sisters and brothers.

I want to see this continuing-- I have no doubt it will.

(chanting): No war!

Yes, peace!

GBOWEE: Activism is a very difficult kind of work.

You have to dig deep into all of the pessimism that the world throws at you, and find one light, and follow that light.

- (chanting) AHN: In the years since our DMZ crossing... ...our movement has grown, with thousands of supporters around the world.

There are a lot of new faces... ...and plenty of familiar ones.

Hi, thanks for joining.

It's so beautiful to see all of you.

I love you all so much.

We are not stopping.

We are just getting going.

We need all of you to be with us to continue walking on this journey.