However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later denied the report that Clinton had conveyed a message from Obama.

Robert Gibbs, White House Spokesman, said, "This obviously is a very sensitive topic, we will hope to provide some more detail at a later point. Our focus right now is on ensuring the safety of the two journalists."

American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling are reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture.

They were accused of illegally crossing the Chinese-DPRK border in March and engaging in unspecified "hostile acts". They were sentenced in June to 12 years of hard labor.

(CCTV August 5, 2009)