North Korea on Tuesday claimed two American journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor on the charges of spying confessed to committing their crime out of political motivation.

The official [North] Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday said Euna Lee and Laura Ling had the right to an interpreter in the trial, and Ling was represented by a lawyer at her request.

A South Korean government official speculated that the report stressed the legitimacy of the trial because the issue is now subject to political negotiations.