Some three-hundred South Korean civic group activists have arrived in Pyongyang for a friendly visit at the invitation of North Korea.

The group is the first batch of more than nine-thousand South Koreans who will visit the North in stages until October 17th. The visitors are from 22 South Korean non-governmental organizations working to promote inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.

During their two-day stay in the North, the South Koreans will visit major historic sites in Pyongyang and attend the Arirang Festival, a synchronized gymnastics and dance spectacle involving more than 100-thousand performers.

North Korea first held the festival in 2002 to mark the 60th birthday of its leader Kim Jong-il and the 90th birthday of his father and the North's founder, Kim Il-sung.

South Korean civic group members attended the 2002 festival, but the scale of their visit this year, which marks the 60th anniversary of the nation's liberation from Japan's colonial rule, will be the largest to date.