The North's Central Court Monday sentenced TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee to "reform through labour" for what state media called an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime."

Under the communist state's penal code, they are supposed to be transferred to prison within 10 days of the sentence, said Choi Eun-Suk, an expert in North Korean law.

"This period should be well used," Choi, of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, told AFP.

"It would be better for the US to get something done for their release before they are actually sent to prison.

"The verdict is final and cannot be appealed as it came from the North's highest court."

US President Barack Obama, expressing deep concern, says his government is using "all possible channels" to obtain their release.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed Monday for the North to show clemency and deport the women, amid speculation a senior US figure may be sent to Pyongyang to negotiate their release.

Border guards detained Ling and Lee on March 17 along the frontier with China while they were researching a story about refugees fleeing the North.

Analysts believe Pyongyang will use them as bargaining chips in its attempts to open direct talks with Washington.

Other experts said the pair, assuming they are forced to start serving their sentences, would not be sent to one of the North's notoriously brutal labour camps for ordinary offenders.

"I don't think North Korea will send the foreign journalists to a real labour camp because it hates exposing the harsh and dreadful conditions to outsiders," said Park Sang-Hak, the head of a North Korean defectors' group in Seoul.

Such camps, he told AFP, usually force convicts to work 16 hours a day on only one-fifth of the food that South Koreans usually have.

The North has special labour camps for convicted ranking government officials or ruling party members, Park said.

"They have relatively easier work and conditions are better than ordinary camps. But they are still poor in comparison with prisons in South Korea or in the West."

The Daily NK, a web newspaper published by defectors and others, also said the pair are likely to end up in special "re-education camps" for prominent offenders.

These have better conditions and food than ordinary labour camps and the work is lighter, it said. They are reportedly located at Pyongsung 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Pyongyang and at Wonsan in the eastern province of Kangwon.

"When international human rights organisations request visits to North Korean prisons, they are shown such camps," the paper said.

In Seoul about 50 protesters calling for the reporters to be freed burned a North Korean flag and photos of leader Kim Jong-Il and his youngest son Jong-Un, who is reportedly the chosen successor.

earlier related report
US leaders, family seek mercy for reporters jailed in NKorea
US leaders and family members urged North Korea to show mercy to two jailed American television reporters, as Washington tried to separate their plight from efforts to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear test.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee were imprisoned on Monday for 12 years, as the United States continued to press other UN Security Council members to approve a tough new resolution sanctioning the hardline communist state.

The pair, both in their thirties, were sentenced to "reform through labour" by a North Korean court for what state media called an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime."

Border guards detained them on March 17 along the frontier with China while they were researching a story about refugees fleeing Kim Jong-Il's regime.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed Monday for clemency and said President Barack Obama's administration was "engaged in all possible ways through every possible channel to secure their release."

Like others in the administration, Clinton urged the North to treat the women's case as separate from the Security Council debate.

"We think the imprisonment, trial and sentencing of Laura and Euna should be viewed as a humanitarian matter. We hope that the North Koreans will grant clemency and deport them," she added.

Ling and Lee's families in a joint statement asked for "compassion" and said they were "shocked and devastated" by the sentences.

"We are very concerned about their mental state and well-being," the statement said, adding that Ling suffers from an ulcer and Lee's four-year-old daughter "is displaying signs of anguish over the absence of her mother."

Washington appears to be contemplating trouble-shooting roles for former vice-president Al Gore or New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

The State Department last week did not rule out intervention by Gore, who co-founded the women's employers Current TV.

Richardson, who in the 1990s negotiated the release of two Americans in North Korea, said the administration had contacted him for advice in the case.

A South Korean expert in the North's legal system advised the US to move quickly.

Under the penal code, the women are supposed to be transferred to prison within 10 days of the sentence, said Choi Eun-Suk, of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.

"It would be better for the US to get something done for their release before they are actually sent to prison," Choi told AFP.

In what Obama has called "extraordinarily provocative" actions over the past two months, the North has test-fired a long-range rocket, detonated a nuclear weapon underground and fired short-range missiles.

It also renounced the armistice on the Korean peninsula and threatened possible attacks on South Korea.

US and South Korean officials say the North also seems to be preparing another long-range missile test.

Pyongyang on Tuesday portrayed its May 25 nuclear test as a self-defensive measure against US threats of aggression, vowing to use its nuclear weapons both to defend itself and to carry out a reprisal for any attack.

The nuclear deterrent would safeguard regional peace and is a "means for merciless strikes to deal just retaliatory blows at those who dare infringe upon the dignity and sovereignty of the (North) even a bit," said the cabinet newspaper Minju Joson.

Analysts say ailing leader Kim, 67, is projecting an image of strength to bolster his authority over his inner circle as he prepares his youngest son for an eventual takeover.

They say Pyongyang will use the journalists as bargaining chips to try to open direct talks with Washington on the nuclear issue and other disputes.

The North wants to establish US ties to eliminate the perceived military threat from Washington and to ease sanctions -- but only on the basis that it is accepted as a nuclear-armed state.

US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said Monday the succession issue added a new element of danger.

"He (Kim) had a stroke last summer and recently designated his son as his successor," Blair said.

"So any time you have a combination of this behaviour -- doing provocative things in order to excite a response -- plus succession questions, you have a potentially dangerous mixture," he said.

earlier related report
Clinton, families urge clemency for reporters jailed in NKorea
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed on Monday for North Korea to show clemency and deport two US journalists sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp, calling it a humanitarian case.

Clinton also said President Barack Obama's administration is "engaged in all possible ways through every possible channel to secure their release" as it appears to contemplate trouble-shooting roles for high-profile politicians.

Like others in the administration, Clinton urged North Korea to treat the women's case as separate from UN Security Council debate over how to respond to Pyongyang's nuclear weapons test on May 25.

"We view these as entirely separate matters," Clinton told reporters after a North Korean court sentenced journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years in a labor camp for an illegal border crossing and an unspecified "grave crime."

"We think the imprisonment trial and sentencing of Laura and Euna should be viewed as a humanitarian matter. We hope that the North Koreans will grant clemency and deport them," Clinton added.

The chief US diplomat, speaking during a meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, called for their "immediate release on humanitarian grounds," but did not explain why they should be freed on those grounds.

Ling and Lee were detained by North Korean border guards on March 17 along the frozen Tumen River, which marks the North's border with China, while researching a story on refugees fleeing the hardline communist state.

The pair, both aged in their 30s, were on reporting assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV, a company co-founded by former vice president Al Gore.

In their first public remarks since the punishment was announced, Ling and Lee's families issued a joint statement apologized on their behalf if the reporters accidentally strayed across the border, and asked North Korea for "compassion."

The families said they were "shocked and devastated" by the harsh sentences.

"We are very concerned about their mental state and well-being," the statement read.

"We ask the government of North Korea to show compassion and grant Laura and Euna clemency and allow them to return home to their families."

Ling suffered from an ulcer, and Lee's four year-old daughter "is displaying signs of anguish over the absence of her mother," it said.

"We believe that the three months they have already spent under arrest with little communication with their families is long enough."

The administration appears to be contemplating trouble-shooting roles for Gore and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

The State Department last week did not rule out possible intervention by Gore.

Richardson, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who in the past negotiated the release of Americans in North Korea, said the administration had contacted him for advice in the case.

He also said he had spoken to the women's families.

Interviewed on NBC's Today Show, Richardson predicted the political negotiations for their release would now begin in what he called a "high stakes poker game."

But he said that any talk of a US envoy for the case was "premature" because a framework for talks on a potential humanitarian release had to first be established.

"What we would try to seek would be some kind of a political pardon, some kind of a respite from the legal proceedings," Richardson said.

In 1996, then-US congressman Richardson negotiated the release of Evan Hunziker, who had been detained for three months on suspicion of spying after swimming the Yalu border river.

In 1994, Richardson also negotiated the release of the surviving pilot of a US Army helicopter downed in North Korea, along with the body of his dead co-pilot.

He said it is "good news" that Pyongyang had not charged the two women with espionage and that it seems to separate their cases from political differences with Washington.

But Clinton said: "Obviously we are deeply concerned about the length of the sentence and the fact that this trial was conducted totally in secret with no observers."

White House spokesman Bill Burton said "the president is deeply concerned" by the sentencing.

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