The two American journalists who were detained and later convicted in North Korea have not been sent to a prison labor camp and are being kept at a guest house in Pyongyang, political scientist Han S. Park from the University of Georgia said on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

The journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee live in a decent, luxurious accommodation, said Park, who travels to North Korea frequently with Academic purposes. He said he had a discussion with North Korean officials but he was not representing the U.S, according to the report.

The journalists were reportedly sentenced in June to 12 years to a prison labor camp on charges of entering North Korea ilegally and for hostile acts. One of the journalists, Ling, reportedly told her family on the phone that they broke the law, when they entered the country, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The two of them were reporting near the North Korean border when they were captured. The journalists were working on a story on human trafficking, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Park also said that North Korea's government was interested in releasing the women if the situation warrants, and if the U.S. realizes what Pyongyang said were hostile acts.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, asked North Korea's government to grant amnesty to the journalists.