N. Korea Keeps Reporters' Families In Dark

There has been "absolutely no contact" between the two American journalists sentenced to hard labor in North Korea and their families, a cousin said Wednesday.

"I know that there's been attempts by the Swedish embassy to see how the girls are doing but we haven't heard a thing," Angie Wang, cousin of Lisa Ling, told CBS' The Early Show.

Ling and Euna Lee were convicted by a North Korean court for allegedly entering the country illegally. They were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

North Korean state-run media said Tuesday the women were caught shooting video for a politically motivated "smear campaign" and admitted to the charges against them.

Wang said the families were "so sorry that this has happened" and asked North Korea for leniency.

But she doubts the legitimacy of the charges.

"We know that when they left U.S. soil, they had no intention of crossing the border," she told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

Earlier, the families of Ling and Lee released a statement saying they appreciate the North Korean government's decision to release an account of the events leading to the charges against the women.

"Whatever those charges to which they have confessed, we are sorry and know that they are as well," the statement read.