North Korea's top court convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in prison June 8, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States.

The sentencing came amid soaring tensions fueled by the North's latest nuclear and missile tests. Many believe Pyongyang is using the journalists as bargaining chips as the United Nations debates a new resolution to punish the unpredictable country for its latest military threats.

In a cryptic, two-sentence report, the North's state news agency said Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were sentenced after the five-day trial ended June 8. They were guilty of a "grave crime" against North Korea and of illegally crossing into the country, the Korean Central News Agency said.

The court "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor," said the report, without giving other details. The phrase refers to a prison term, according to Choi Eun-suk, an expert on North Korean law at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

Ling and Lee, who work for former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV, cannot appeal because they were tried in North Korea's highest court, where decisions are final.