U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she hopes North Korea will comply with Washington’s request that two American journalists detained by the North be granted amnesty.

Clinton made the remarks during a town hall meeting with department staffers on Saturday.

Her comment indicates the U.S. government has acquiesced and is now recognizing that the two journalists entered the North illegally.

Washington had been demanding that North Korea release the two American detainees from a humanitarian standpoint.

Clinton said that all concerned parties, including the journalists and their families, have expressed great remorse for the incident.

The State Department, on its part, said dialogue on the issue is taking place between the U.S. and North Korea, assuring the public that Washington is employing all possible means for the release of the journalists.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, of San Francisco-based Current TV, were arrested near the North’s border with China in March for entering the country illegally and unspecified "hostile acts.” They were sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp.

Ling reportedly admitted to illegally entering the communist country during a recent phone call with her family.