The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. says Washington is working for the safe and swift release of two American journalists detained by North Korea.

In an interview with ABC, Susan Rice said the North has no reason to try the journalists, who were detained at the North's border with China on March 17th.

She said the U.S. government is pursuing all possible measures to ensure the release of the two women in cooperation with the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said last week that Pyongyang was preparing to put the journalists on trial for illegally entering the North and for what it claims were “hostile acts.”