SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea confirmed Saturday that it is holding two American journalists and accused the women of "illegally intruding" on its territory.

The two were arrested March 17 after crossing the border with China, the Korean Central News Agency said. Authorities were investigating, KCNA said in a brief with no further details.

The arrests come at a sensitive time, with the North planning to fire a satellite-equipped rocket into space in early April — a launch some fear will be a cover for testing missile technology.

The North also is locked in a standoff with regional powers over its nuclear program, and earlier this week ordered five U.S. groups that distribute much-needed food aid to the impoverished country to leave by the end of March.

The isolated country has repeatedly shut its southern border in recent days and severed a hot line between the two Koreas to protest joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. It restored the telephone link, the only one between the rivals, on Saturday.

The North confirmed reports Saturday that it had arrested two American journalists "while illegally intruding into the territory" of North Korea, according to KCNA.

South Korean media and a South Korean missionary identified the two detained Americans as Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based media outlet Current TV.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Seoul said he had no further information.