The Central Court of North Korea have found two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, guilty of illegal border crossing and have sentenced them both to 12 years in North Korean labor camp. The only statement out of the U.S. State Department is that they have seen reports of the convictions and are trying to confirm them with the North Koreans.

"We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release," said spokesman Ian Kelley in a statement. "We once again urge North Korea to grant the immediate release of the two American citizen journalists on humanitarian grounds."

Source: CNN

Ling and Lee, reporters for Al Gore’s media venture CurrentTV, were taken into custody back on March 17th who has been advised apparently by his lawyers not to say anything in public about the matter. To this point only a Swedish ambassador has been allowed to see them , other than that any contact has been severely limited.

[picture via CNN]