WomenCrossDMZ peace activists were taken on a "boilerplate" propaganda march of Pyongyang by a body well-known for cultivating relations with North Korea sympathizer groups, observers said Tuesday.

Instead of being an example of "citizen-to-citizen diplomacy," the North Korean hosts of the WomenCrossDMZ delegation would have facilitated it "for domestic propaganda reasons," said Curtis Melvin, a researcher at the U.S. Korea-Institute in Washington, D.C.