BEIJING – With endorsements from North and South Korea, a group of women activists departed from Beijing on Tuesday for Pyongyang, where they will walk to Seoul in the hopes of the two Koreas signing a peace treaty.

The group departed amid controversy sparked by North Korea’s possible brutal execution of its Minister of Defense, Hyon Yong Chol, which raised doubts on whether the timing is appropriate. In their defense, the group argued that there has yet been any proof of the purge and they prefer not to link the two incidents.