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News out of North Korea tonight: Los Angeles journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were convicted in last week's trial and sentenced to 12 years "reform through labor" each in a North Korean prison. Associated Press, Reuters and the BBC have picked up the dispatch from the official KCNA news agency.
Lee, who has a four-year-old daughter, and Ling are based in Los Angeles and were on the China-North Korea border reporting a story for Current TV. They were grabbed by North Korean guards on March 17 and have been held ever since.
* Added:
- 10:12 p.m.: Short staff story up now at New York Times.
- 10:35 p.m.: Bloomberg staff story says "the sentencing may enflame tensions that are already running high after North Korea detonated a nuclear device last month, said the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War no longer applies and fired several missiles."
- 11:15 p.m.: L.A. Times staff story adds State Department statement: "We are deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release."
Previously on LA Observed:
Photos from Santa Monica vigil
Reporters' trial said to begin