Story highlights Activists celebrate "a voyage across the DMZ in peace and reconciliation"

They crossed the DMZ by bus after having originally planned to walk across

Some critics have accused them of overlooking North Korean rights abuses

Paju, South Korea (CNN) An international group of female activists crossed the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea on Sunday in a controversial effort to bring attention to the need for peace between the two nations.

The group of about 30 members, called WomenCrossDMZ, included feminist Gloria Steinem and two Nobel Peace laureates, Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia.

On Sunday morning, a bus picked them up from the North Korean side and ferried them across the Demilitarized Zone that has separated the two Koreas for more than half a century.

"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.

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