[KVOLUTION]

America's top diplomat urged North Korea to release the two U.S. journalists, who have been held in Pyongyang and on trial this week for what North Korea said to be for their illegal entry and unspecified "hostile acts."

"We call again on the North Korean government to release them and enable them to come home as soon as possible," Yonhap quoted Clinton as saying on Friday in Washington.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for Current TV, a San Francisco-based Internet news outlet, were taken into custody along the Chinese border with North Korea on March 17 while working on a story about North Korean refugees.

The top U.S. diplomat also said in an earlier interview with Fox News that "the charges against these two young women should have never been brought. They should be released."

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, chairman of Current TV, has been rumored to fly to North Korea soon to negotiate the release of the two American journalists. Clinton said such an option of using a special representative was being considered. "But as things stand now, we know that they're in the middle of a trial in Pyongyang, and we hope that the trial is resolved quickly and that the young women are released."

North Korea said Thursday that the trial for the American journalists would begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, without elaborating.

The Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang, Mats Foyer, who handles consular affairs involving American citizens in North Korea, was denied access to the trial, although he has met with the journalists three times since their detention, according to U.S. officials.

Lee and Ling face up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the North Korean court.