North Korea on Monday wrapped up proceedings against two American journalists by sentencing them to 12 years of hard labor. The sentence was passed in the Central Court, North Korea's supreme court, so there is no appeal.

Under the North's criminal code, suspects can be sentenced to more than 10 years in a labor camp for a "grave crime against the Korean nation" and up to three years for illegal entry and exit across the border.

The U.S. and North Korea have reportedly been talking behind the scenes through either the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang or the North's UN mission. A South Korean government official said the U.S. was trying to approach the issue from a humanitarian point of view, but that North Korea will highly likely attempt to link the matter with security talks, including the nuclear issue.

Prof. Yoo Ho-yul of Korea University called the verdict "shocking" in relation to the alleged offense. "What's more, the court prolonged the proceedings, which could have been finished in a day, for five long days. All this shows their attempt to bring the U.S. to the dialogue table as soon as possible," he added.

The verdict comes at a time when the UN Security Council and the U.S. are on the brink of announcing harsh sanctions against the North over its recent nuclear test. Lee Soo-suk, chief of inter-Korean relations research at the Institute for National Security Strategy, said, "North Korea will likely demand not lip service such as an apology from the U.S. but concrete action including easing of financial sanctions."

The U.S. is in a dilemma. It cannot simply forgive and forget the North¡¯s recent grandstanding and violations of international non-proliferation regimes to win the release of the detained journalists.

A diplomatic source said there are apparently "some Americans who stress that the U.S. should not change its basic North Korea policy because of two journalists who made a mistake on their own."

But Washington and Pyongyang will probably reach some kind of deal, experts speculate. Mindful of international opinion, North Korea too will find it difficult to detain the journalists for an extended period. A senior government official here said that the two sides will sooner or later agree on their release in the end.