Foreign activists' upcoming trek across the heavily fortified inter-Korean border could serve as the first step toward bringing lasting peace to the peninsula, the event's organizers said Thursday.

About 30 female activists from around the world, including U.S. activist Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire from Ireland, plan to march from the North to the South across the Demilitarized Zone that bisects the two Koreas to mark International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament on May 24.

The purpose of the DMZ crossing is to express hope that Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War will be united someday and military tensions between the two sides can be reduced, they said.

But some U.S. experts said even if the event has a good purpose of promoting peace, it will do little to help resolve the pressing problems of North Korea's nuclear weapons and human rights violations.

Organizer AhnKim Jeong-ae said that the campaign cannot easily resolve the inter-Korean tension, but it will help bring public awareness to the challenges facing the divided peninsula.

"We are aware of such criticism, but we plan to deliver a message of peace by walking across the DMZ," she said at a press briefing. "We hope that it will serve as the first step toward creating the peace regime on the divided peninsula."

Crossing the border requires approval from the two Koreas and the United Nations Command, with the two Koreas still technically at war.

The U.N. command has asked the event's organizer to first receive permission from the governments of the two Koreas. Seoul's unification ministry said earlier this week that it will provide necessary support if North Korea approves it.

Tina Choi, another organizer, told reporters that the North is expected to deliver its letter of approval to the U.N. command by early May.

"We expect the two Koreas to give a final nod to the DMZ-crossing event by then," Choi said.

The unification ministry stressed the planned event should be held in a way that doesn't spark unintended tensions on the peninsula amid concerns that it could be politicized by the North. (Yonhap)