Two Americans were detained by North Korea for illegally crossing its border and were under investigation, the communist country's official news agency said Saturday, AP reported. The two female U.S. journalists were arrested March 17 while «while illegally intruding into the territory of (North Korea) by crossing the (North Korea)-China border,» the Korean Central News Agency said. Authorities were investigating the case, KCNA said. The brief dispatch gave no further details. State Department officials said Washington is in contact with North Korea about the two detained journalists. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton «is engaged on this matter right now,» spokesman Robert A. Wood told reporters Friday. «There is a lot of diplomacy going on. There have been a number of contacts made.» He did not elaborate. The incident comes at a sensitive time on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea declaring its intention to fire a satellite-equipped rocket into space in early April _ a launch some fear will be a cover for the test-fire of a long-range missile. The two reporters were in the border area with a male cameraman and their guide as part of a reporting assignment on North Korean refugees.
