SHOOT: This is effectively a case of kidnapping. The US will probably pay a substantial ransom. A lot of journalists have done what these two did, which is enter the country pretending not to be journalists. If they are released they'll have the scoop of the lifetime.
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's top court convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in a prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.
The sentencing came amid soaring tensions fueled by the North's latest nuclear and missile tests. Many believe Pyongyang is using the journalists as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the unpredictable country for its latest military threats.
The court "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor," said the report, without giving other details. The phrase refers to a prison term, according to Choi Eun-suk, a North Korean law expert at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington was trying to confirm reports of the sentencing. He said the U.S. was "deeply concerned" about the sentences and that officials would "engage in all possible channels" to free the women.
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