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DPRK jails 2 US journalists for 12 years

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-08 13:06

PYONGYANG -- The Central Court of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sentenced two American journalists to 12 years of reform through labor, the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Monday.

File photo shows the two US women reporters held by the DPRK. [Xinhua]

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The trial of American journalists Laura Ling and Seung-eun Lee was held from June 4 to 8, the report said.

The trial confirmed the crime the two female journalists committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing as they had already been indicted and sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor, it said.

Seung-eun Lee, a Korean-American, and Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, were detained on March 17 along the DPRK-Chinese border.

The DPRK accused the pair, who work for Current TV in California, of illegally intruding into its territory with "hostile intent."

The two jailed journalists had been visited by Sweden's ambassador to the DPRK on behalf of Washington which has no diplomatic ties with Pyongyang.