On Sunday, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced by a North Korean court to 12 years of “reform through labour” for an unspecified “grave crime” and for allegedly entering the country illegally, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The two journalists for Current TV were arrested in March, The Guardian reports, while filming a report about North Koreans refugees fleeing into China across the Tumen River. North Korea claims the two illegally entered the country, but other reports said the two had been filming from the Chinese side of the border.

The women’s trial began on Thursday. U.S. and international officials are working for the women’s release amid a tense diplomatic climate as North Korea and the west dicker and negotiate over N.Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Here is a 2005 Rocketboom interview with Ling and [former Rocketboom correspondent] Zadi Diaz, where they discuss the “shuffle” format of the just-formed Current TV.