US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited the Joint Security Area and Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) of the Korean Peninsula on Friday.

Tillerson, who is on a two-day visit to South Korea as part of his Asia tour, arrived at Osan Air Base earlier on Friday and went straight to the DMZ accompanied by General Vincent Brooks, commander of US Forces Korea.

During his two-day stay, the Secretary of State will also meet with Prime Minister and acting leader Hwang Kyo-ahn and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

Seoul is the second stop for Tillerson after Japan on his first Asia tour as US Secretary of State.

Panmunjom - 17 March 2017

1. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arriving

2. Various of Tillerson posing for photographs

3. North Korean soldier taking picture

4. Tillerson walking towards the Military Demarcation Line

5. Mid of Tillerson surrounded by US soldiers

6. Pan right from North Korean soldier taking picture of Tillerson to Tillerson

7. Tillerson posing photograph in front of Military Demarcation Line

8. Close of Tillerson talking to General Vincent Brooks, commander of US Forces Korea

9. North Korean soldiers watching

10. Close of Tillerson

11. Wide of Tillerson

12. Mid of Tillerson

13. Various of North Korea's visitors centre, foreign tourists watching

14. North Korean soldiers

15. South Korean soldiers in foreground and North Korean soldiers in background

16. Wide of Panmunjom

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Paju - 24 May 2015

1. Female peace activists group Women Cross DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) walking down the near the south side of the DMZ separating North Korea and South Korea

2. Close of activists including Gloria Steinem (second left) and Mairead Maguire (far right) walking

3. Various of activists walking in DMZ

4. Top shot of activists arriving at the ceremonial ground for welcome ceremony

5. Activists holding banner reading (English) "Women Call for a Korean Peace Treaty"

6. Wide of stage with welcoming ceremony

7. Maguire (left) and Steinem (right) seated on stage

8. Patchwork created by both North Koreans and South Koreans representing Women Cross DMZ group reading (English) "2015 Women Cross DMZ"

9. Steinem coming to centre of the stage

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Gloria Steinem, Honorary Co-Chair of Women Cross DMZ group:

"People are always asking, especially those of us who care deeply about social justice and human rights - what should we do? As if there were something up there that would tell us what to do. The truth is we must simply do everything we can."

11. Members of Women Cross DMZ group seated

12. Member of Women Cross DMZ group Leymah Gbowee behind microphone

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Leymah Gbowee, member of Women Cross DMZ group:

"We call for the official end of the Korean War by replacing the 1953 Amnesty (Armistice) Agreement with a peace treaty as stipulated in Article 4, Paragraph 60."

14. Activists including Maguire and Steinem enjoying performance

15. Wide of audience and stage

16. Various of activists including Maguire and Steinem singing (Korean) "Our Wish is the Reunification of the Koreas" and holding scarves representing Women Cross DMZ group

STORYLINE

International women activists including Gloria Steinem and two Nobel Peace laureates on Sunday were denied an attempt to walk across the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea.

The North did however allow a South Korean bus to cross the demarcation line to pick up the activists on the North side of the DMZ and transport them over the border to South Korea.

United Nations Command officials met the group inside the DMZ after they crossed the demarcation line, and allowed them to march again after the final checkpoint on the southern side.

A welcome ceremony was held at the border city of Paju where the group gave speeches and sang a song about reunification.

The group of 30 women from 15 countries had made a final appeal to authorities on both sides to allow them to walk across the demarcation line, but it was turned down.

The Koreas have remained divided since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The DMZ that divides them is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world.

Authorities on both sides said they could not guarantee the safety of the women had they walked across.

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