The White House has urged North Korea to immediately release two U.S. journalists who were sentenced to 12 years in prison by the North’s highest court on Monday.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Tuesday that the two women journalists are innocent. He added that there haven’t been any signs thus far that the North is attempting to link the conviction of the journalists with its nuclear issue.

The North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced Monday that the North's Central Court found Laura Ling and Euna Lee guilty of illegal entry and hostile acts, and sentenced them to 12 years each in labor camps.