What happens when the feminists in America become focused completely on their own First World problems? Gloria Steinem goes to North Korea, and crosses the DMZ, with an obviously named group of activists called “WomenCrossDMZ.”

As promised, Steinem, joined by 29 other women activists from 15 countries including Irish Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mairead Maguire, visited North Korea, and crossed the DMZ into South Korea in an attempt to spur negotiations for a peace treaty. North Korea only signed an armistice with U.S. lead UN forces in 1953, not with South Korea – a fact these women are hoping to change.

However, before anyone thinks this could be Steinem’s “Nixon moment,” this tour of North Korea and DMZ crossing has been met with some less-than-encouraging protests. The Telegraph reports:

Demonstrators waved placards reading “Don’t say peace, you are unqualified!” and “”Women Cross (sic) Go to Hell!” Other posters accused them of being agents of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s young but brutal leader.

The women did refer to themselves as “citizen diplomats,” and some of the accusations leveled at the activists have some merit. It’s unreasonable to think that the North Korean women they met with had not been vetted by the government, and the decision to visit the birthplace of Kim il-Sung – the founding father of North Korea and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather – was probably not the best choice. One former South Korean politician made the observation:

Lee Dong-bok, a former MP, criticized a visit they made to Kim Il-sung’s birthplace. “I don’t like the way these ladies participate in this kind of propaganda event,” he said. “They are useful idiots for the North Korean regime.”

While it may be a bit naive to take the fact that both North and South Korea apparently did not have an objection to a “human rights” clause that was included in the women’s petition to make the crossing, Steinem may be right that this is progress, albeit a tiny amount. At the very least, it means that the women that participated in this event can go home and tell the stories of some women from the Hermit Kingdom. In the grand scheme of things, attempting to get world leaders to a negotiation table to unify Korea is far more valuable than battling over “rape culture,” abortion on demand, and free birth control in the U.S.