Two American journalists with Bay Area ties are still being held and questioned in North Korea days after they were detained.
South Korean authorities confirmed they are being questioned and detained in Pyongyang.
Laura Ling and Euna Lee had gone to North Korea to report about life on the run from the repressive government -- women who end up at the mercy of human traffickers and children who grow up in hiding.
North Korea says Ling and Lee were illegally intruding into its territory after crossing the border from China last week.
Their cameraman, Mitch Koss, and a guide both managed to elude capture but are being held in China, and their whereabouts are unclear.
The journalists work for former vice-president Al Gore's San Francisco-based online news company Current TV.
The conflict comes as North Korea plans to launch a satelite that Washington argues is a cover for a long-range missile test.
Local
Diplomatic officials from China, the U.S., South Korea and at North Korea's U.N. Mission have been tightlipped about the reported detentions. They also haven't given details on any negotiations under way for the release of the women.
