North Korea jails two US journalists for 12 years

NORTH KOREA has convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years of hard labour for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation’s confrontation with the US.

The Obama administration said it would pursue “all possible channels” to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former vice president Al Gore’s San Francisco-based Current TV media venture.

There are fears Pyongyang is using the women as bargaining chips as the UN debates a new resolution to punish the country for its defiant May 25 atomic test and as North Korea seeks to draw Washington into direct negotiations.