Two US journalists jailed for 'grave crime' against N Korea

TWO American journalists were today jailed for 12 years in North Korea.

The actual charge against Laura Ling and Euna Lee has not been specified, but North Korea's state-owned news agency said they had committed "a grave crime". They were tried at the Central Court from 4 to 8 June, the agency said.

The reporters, both in their thirties, were working for former US vice-president Al Gore's Current TV when they were arrested in March. They were investigating the trafficking of women.

It is unclear if they strayed into North Korea or were grabbed by border guards who crossed into China. The trial was not open to the public or to foreign observers.

KCNA's brief dispatch said: "The trial confirmed the grave crime they 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 labour."

South Korean legal experts had warned that a conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labour camp.

The severe sentences are certain to further inflame tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, after North Korea's missile launch last month and its declaration that a truce which ended the Korean war in 1953 would no longer be recognised.

President Barack Obama called North Korea's latest nuclear test, which was followed by a series of missile launches, "extraordinarily provocative" and said there would be no appeasement by the US.

North Korea's military grandstanding is increasingly unnerving a region that accounts for a sixth of the world's economy. It threatened to retaliate with "extreme" measures if the UN punished it for last month's nuclear test.

"Our response would be to consider sanctions against us as a declaration of war and answer it with extreme hard line measures," North Korea's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

The communist regime indicated it was preparing to issue an order banning ships from up to 160 miles off its east coast around the Wonsan area from where it launched the missile.

The UN may adopt a resolution this week, but there is a division among members over how tough it should be.

Japanese foreign minister Hirofumi Nakasone called for a strong resolution but his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi said a more "balanced" response was needed.