N Korea sentences US journalists to hard labor

North Korea, facing United Nations sanctions for last month's nuclear test, raised the stakes in its growing confrontation with Washington on Monday by jailing two American journalists to 12 years hard labor for an unspecified "grave crime."

The two women were sentenced after a five-day trial "confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," the Korean Central News Agency said.

United States Preseident Barack Obama quickly issued a statement saying he was "deeply concerned" about the sentencing and as Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on North Korea to reverse its decision, which it slammed as "appalling" as it was too severe.

The sentence follows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warning that the U.S. was considering putting the North back on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, which would further isolate the impoverished country.

The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of U.S. media outlet Current TV, founded and chaired by former Vice President Al Gore, were arrested in March working on a story near the border between North Korea and China.

Worsening bad relationship

The harsh sentence is certain to deepen the chill in relations with the U.S. that has been trying for years, with scant success, to convince North Korea to give up its dreams of becoming a nuclear weapons power.

Analysts suggested the women would become pawns in efforts to open direct negotiations with the United States.

The North has long sought direct talks in preference to the stalled six-party negotiations on nuclear disarmament of which Washington is a part.

Obama at the weekend called the North's latest nuclear test, which was followed by a series of missile tests, "extraordinarily provocative" and said that this time there would be no appeasement by Washington.

North Korea kept up its military grandstanding which is increasingly unnerving a region that accounts for a sixth of the world's economy.

It threatened to retaliate with "extreme" measures if the United Nations punished it for last month's nuclear test.

It also indicated it was readying fresh moves, issuing a no-sail warning off its east coast up to 260 km (160 miles) off the Wonsan area from where it launched a missile in May and a barrage of short-range missiles in 2006.

The U.N. Security Council may adopt a new resolution as early as this week, but there is clear division among some members over how tough to be on the reclusive state.

Clinton said last week Washington wanted the strongest possible resolution.

Terrorism blacklist

The United States removed North Korea from its terrorism blacklist in October in a bid to revive faltering six-party nuclear disarmament talks, prompting the North to take some measures to disable its nuclear facilities.

Pyongyang has since reversed those steps and said it had restarted the nuclear complex -- including reprocessing nuclear fuel to obtain weapons-grade plutonium.

Many analysts say the North's belligerence may be aimed largely at a domestic audience, with ruler Kim Jong-il, 67, using it to bolster his position at home with the military and to better secure the succession for his youngest son Kim Jong-un.

His eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, told Japanese television over the weekend that he would not be surprised to see his brother take over. If he does, it would be the third generation to head the world's first communist dynasty.