By: Matthew Bailey

Two U.S. journalists that had been detained in North Korea along the China and North Korea border have been sentenced to 12 years in labor camps, the country’s state run media said Monday. North Korean law experts say North Korean law dictated a sentence of 10 years or more of hard labor.

The trial of the two journalists began on June 4, however no details emerged from the closed hearing until today. North Korea has not specified the exact charges, or have they allowed foreign observers into the court proceedings.

Some reports suggest that the women were held while on Chinese soil, but Pyongyang’s state media say they had illegally entered North Korea.

Lee and Ling were detained along the China border March 17 while covering the plight of defectors living for San Francisco-based Current TV, co-founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said the former vice president has no comment.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called the charges “baseless.” She also said that she was “incredibly concerned” about the fate of the two women, and that the charges against them “are absolutely without merit or foundation”.

The United States government had demanded that the North forgo the legal proceedings and release the two women.

The women’s families have appealed for clemency and asked Pyongyang and Washington not to link the case to the current diplomatic stand-off between them.