UNITED NATIONS -- North Korea has decided to support a proposed walk across the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas by prominent women including Gloria Steinem, and organizers say they hope South Korea will give its approval as well.
Co-organizer Christine Ahn said North Korea gave permission this week after she visited Pyongyang. The walk proposed for May 24 is a call for reunification of the two countries.
The demilitarized zone is the world's most fortified border, with the two Koreas still technically at war. The walk would mark the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean Peninsula.
The walk would include two Nobel Peace laureates, and Ahn said North Korean women will walk with the group from Pyongyang to the demilitarized zone.
Organizers of the effort called WomenCrossDMZ.org have said they hope for 30 women to cross from North Korea to South Korea on May 24, which is International Women's Day for Disarmament.
Officials from South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles the country's affairs with the North, and the United Nations Command said they have yet to decide whether to allow the women to walk across the demilitarized zone.
The demilitarized zone is one of the most highly charged places in the world. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers face off across the heavily mined zone that separates South Korea from closed-off, nuclear-armed North Korea.
"It's hard to imagine any more physical symbol of the insanity of dividing human beings," said feminist activist Steinem during last month's announcement of the walk.
Ahn said she had meetings in Pyongyang in the past week with officials from the country's Overseas Korean Committee and Democratic Women's Union. She said she received support to hold a symposium in North Korea on women and peace-building as well.
"I wish I knew how the ultimate decision was made, but at this point I'm just relieved that at least we have Pyongyang's cooperation and support," Ahn said in an email.
A North Korean diplomat to the U.N., Kim Song, last month said the proposal was being discussed in his capital.
Ahn and the other participants also are calling on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, as well as President Barack Obama and the leaders of North and South Korea to take the necessary actions to end the Korean War with a peace treaty. The war was halted in 1953 with the armistice.
The women would like to cross the demilitarized zone at the village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border and is the place where troops from North and South come closest, just a few yards from each other.
The women have said they take heart from successful crossings of the demilitarized zone by five New Zealanders with motorbikes in 2013 and by 32 Korean Russians by motorcade last year. Both had permission from both sides.
This new attempt includes Nobel peace laureates Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, who worked to end those long-running conflicts.
Ahn has said the women are being advised by former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson, and that the U.N. Command at the demilitarized zone has said it would be willing to facilitate their crossing once South Korea's government gives its approval.
Meanwhile, North Korea fired short-range projectiles into the sea for a second-consecutive day Friday in an apparent protest against ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills, South Korean officials said.
Four projectiles with a range of 87 miles were fired into waters off North Korea's west coast Friday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It said North Korea also fired the same type of short-range projectile Thursday.
It said the projectiles were seen as a protest against the military drills, which North Korea says are a rehearsal for an invasion.
South Korea and the U.S. have repeatedly said the drills are defensive in nature. The drills began early last month and are to end April 24.
North Korea usually responds to South Korea-U.S. drills with its own military training involving missile and rocket launches. South Korean officials said North Korea fired missiles into the sea at least two times last month.
Earlier this year, North Korea said it was willing to impose a temporary moratorium on its nuclear tests if Washington canceled the drills. The U.S. rejected the offer.
The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea in a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Information for this article was contributed by Kim Tong-Hyung and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 04/04/2015