Seoul, South Korea ? North Korea stayed silent today about the fate of two U.S. journalists who were supposed to go on trial a day earlier on charges they entered the country illegally and engaged in “hostile acts” — allegations that could draw a 10-year sentence in a labor camp.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore’s California-based Current TV, were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while on a reporting trip to China.

Their trial began in the communist country’s highest court at a time of mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula following the regime’s provocative May 25 nuclear test.

As the United Nations and Washington discussed how to punish the regime for its defiance, there were fears the women could become political pawns in the standoff with Pyongyang.

Analyst Choi Eun-suk, a professor of North Korean law at Kyungnam University, said the court could convict the women, and then the government could use them as bargaining chips with the United States.

“The North is likely to release and deport them to the U.S. — if negotiations with the U.S. go well,” Choi said.

The two nations do not have diplomatic relations, and experts called Pyongyang’s belligerence a bid to grab President Barack Obama’s attention.

North Korea’s official news agency said the trial would begin by mid-afternoon Thursday, but nearly one day later, there was no word on the status of the proceedings. A State Department spokesman said American officials had seen no independent confirmation that the case was under way.

North Korea has said no observers will be allowed to watch.

Few details are known about how Ling and Lee have been treated since they were arrested nearly three months ago. So far, family members have not reported mistreatment.

North Korea’s government is notorious for its brutality, but the most recent accounts indicate the regime has softened its treatment of imprisoned foreigners. Still, the experience has left scars on almost all who endured it.

In 1996, Evan C. Hunziker was detained for three months after being accused of spying. The 26-year-old American entered North Korea by swimming across the Yalu River on the Chinese border.

Hunziker, whose mother was Korean, said he went there out of curiosity and “to preach the Gospel.” Other reports said he got drunk and decided to go for a swim. Hunziker was freed after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who was then a congressman, negotiated his release.

Hunziker’s father said his son refused to talk about his detention, saying only that he was treated humanely and that the food was bad. In a letter to his mother, he said he was moved from a prison to a hotel.

The North Koreans initially demanded a payment of $100,000 as a fine but eventually agreed on $5,000 to settle Hunziker’s hotel bill. The family agreed to pay.

State-run media have not defined the exact charges against the women from Current TV, but South Korean legal experts said conviction for “hostility” or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp.

Choi, the professor, said a ruling by the top court would be final.

The State Department has not divulged details about negotiations for the journalists’ freedom.

Back home, the reporters’ families pleaded for clemency.

Ling’s sister, TV journalist Lisa Ling, said on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that the women “are essentially in the midst of this nuclear standoff.”