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N. Korea jails two U.S. journalists

SINGAPORE: North Korea’s apex court on Monday convicted and sentenced two women American journalists on identical charges of committing “a grave crime” against the state. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were each sentenced to “12 years of reform through labour.”

The cases have attracted unusual attention because of the tensions between the U.S. and North Korea over its second nuclear-weapon test in May.

North Korea’s state news agency said “the trial” of the two journalists “confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation”.

The crime was described as “hostility towards the Korean people”.

It was in March that the two were detained at the North Korean border with China. At the time, they were reportedly gathering material for a story on defections by North Koreans.

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