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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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Saturday the threat of nuclear missile attack by North Korea is accelerating.

In remarks in Seoul with South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo at his side, Mattis accused the North of illegal and unnecessary missile and nuclear programs - and vowed to defeat any attack.

Mattis said North Korea engages in "outlaw" behavior and that the U.S. will never accept a nuclear North.

He added that regardless of what the North might try, it is overmatched by the firepower and cohesiveness of the decades-old U.S.-South Korean alliance.

"I cannot imagine a condition under which the United States would accept North Korea as a nuclear power," he said.

As he emphasized throughout his weeklong Asia trip, which included stops in Thailand and the Philippines, Mattis said diplomacy remains the preferred way to deal with the North.

Mattis' comments did not go beyond his recent statements of concern about North Korea, although he appeared to inject a stronger note about the urgency of resolving the crisis.

While he accused the North of "outlaw" behavior, he did not mention that President Donald Trump has ratcheted up his own rhetoric. In August, Trump warned the North not to make any more threats against the United States, and said that if it did, it would be met with "fire and fury like the world has never seen."

Song, the South Korean minister, told the news conference that he and Mattis agreed to further cooperation on strengthening Seoul's defense capabilities, including lifting warhead payload limits on South Korean conventional missiles and supporting the country's acquisition of "most advanced military assets." He offered no specifics and refused to answer when asked whether the discussions included nuclear-powered submarines.

Trump entered office declaring his commitment to solving the North Korea problem, asserting that he would succeed where his predecessors had failed. His administration has sought to increase pressure on Pyongyang through U.N. Security Council sanctions and other diplomatic efforts, but the North hasn't budged from its goal of building a full-fledged nuclear arsenal, including missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

If Trump sticks to his pledge to stop the North from being able to threaten the U.S. with a nuclear attack, something will have to give - either a negotiated tempering of the North's ambitions or a U.S. acceptance of the North as a nuclear power.

The other alternative would be U.S. military action to attempt to neutralize or eliminate the North's nuclear assets - a move fraught with risk for South Korea, Japan and the United States.

At his Seoul news conference, Mattis said the North is, in effect, shooting itself in the foot.

Mattis touched off unease in South Korea last month when he told reporters at the Pentagon that the United States has military options for North Korea that doesn't put Seoul at risk. At Saturday's briefing, Mattis didn't offer a direct answer to what those options are or how and when they would be used.

"Our military options as I mentioned are designed to buttress the diplomats' efforts to maintain a deterrence stance and denuclearize the Korean Peninsula," he said. While the allies are committed to deterring North Korea, they also need "many different military options that would realistically reduce that threat as low as possible," Mattis said.

"And yes, we do have those options," he said.

The North says it needs nuclear weapons to counter what it believes is a U.S. effort to strangle its economy and overthrow the Kim government.

This was Mattis's second visit to South Korea since taking office in January. He made a point of going to Seoul and Tokyo on his first overseas trip in February, saying he wanted to emphasis the importance he places on strengthening alliances and partnerships.

Seoul – 28 October 2017

1 . SOUNDBITE (English) James Mattis, US Secretary of Defense:

"I cannot imagine in light of Kim's (Jong Un) expanded outlaw activities that all the world has experienced, observed, over this last year or two, I can't imagine a condition under which the United States will accept North Korea as a nuclear power."

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2 . SOUNDBITE (English) James Mattis, US Secretary of Defense:

"We must recognize the reality that this a regime, a Kim regime, north of the DMZ that threatens peace and stability and certainly directly against the people of the ROK (Republic of Korea). So our combined effort is to deter that sort of threat or to have military options, many different military options, that would realistically reduce that threat as low as possible. And yes, we do have those options."

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Seoul, South Korea – 27 October 2017

1.Mattis poses with troops for group photo, gathers troops around for discussion

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mattis, US Defense Secretary

"You know when Generals and Secretaries of Defense and Ministers of Defense are done talking, it rides on your young soldiers to make this alliance work. And stand together with one another. Remember, a lot of Koreans, a lot of Americans died together fighting. That's the legacy you carry on. And we're doing everything we can to solve this diplomatically. Everything we can. But ultimately our diplomats have to be backed up by strong soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines."

3. Mattis shakes hands with South Korean soldier

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Mattis, US Defense Secretary

"You know, an awful lot of our strength in the alliance comes because so many American troops have lived here and their families have lived here, and then they go home. And the idea of ROK's (Republic of Korea) unique democracy here, literally, right now, as you know, we're within range of their fire. And yet somehow this democracy has come up to all of this, out of a very bloody, awful war. And so I think that also having their officers and families and their NCOs go to our schools in the states. The more the people to people, peace works."

5. Mattis thanks troops

STORYLINE:

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis returned to Seoul, South Korea, following his trip to the DMZ. He spoke with a small group of US troops. Mattis told the soldiers and sailors that the U.S. is doing everything it can to resolve the conflict with North Korea diplomatically, but that diplomats need a strong military to back up their words. Mattis also praised South Korea's democracy and said many U.S. military personnel have come to appreciate that democracy by living in the country.

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(i) to check the terms of their licence agreements for use of content outside news programming and that further advice and assistance can be obtained from the AP Archive on: Tel +44 (0) 20 7482 7482 Email: info@aparchive.com

(ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service

(iii) they have editorial responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.