No word on fate of U.S. reporters held in N. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea remained silent today about the fate of two U.S. journalists who were supposed to go on trial a day earlier on charges that they entered the country illegally and engaged in "hostile acts," accusations that could draw a 10-year sentence in a labor camp.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV, were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while on a reporting trip to China.

Their trial began in the communist country's highest court at a time of mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula after the government's May 25 nuclear test.

As the United Nations and the United States discussed how to punish the government for its nuclear defiance, there were fears the women could become political pawns in the standoff with North Korea.

Analyst Choi Eun-suk, a professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University in Masan, South Korea, said the court could convict the women, and the government could use them as bargaining chips.

The two nations do not have diplomatic relations, and experts called the North's belligerence a bid to grab President Obama's attention.

North Korea's official news agency said the trial would begin Thursday; nearly a day later, but there was no word on the status of the proceedings. A State Department spokesman said U.S. officials had seen no independent confirmation that the case was under way.

Few details are known about how Ling and Lee have been treated since they were arrested nearly three months ago. Relatives have not reported mistreatment.

North Korea's government is notorious for its brutality, but the most recent accounts indicate the government has softened its treatment of imprisoned foreigners.

State-run media have not defined the exact charges against the women, but South Korean legal experts said conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp.

Choi, the professor, said a ruling by the top court would be final.

Back home, the reporters' families pleaded for clemency. Ling's sister, TV journalist Lisa Ling, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that the women "are essentially in the midst of this nuclear standoff."

In several U.S. cities, supporters of the two women held vigils Wednesday for their release.

In New York, dozens of people turned out in a drenching rain, holding yellow chrysanthemums. Gatherings also took place in San Francisco and Santa Monica, Calif.