In an interview Tuesday with Oprah Winfrey, Current TV journalist Laura Ling said she confessed to North Korean interrogators that she was trying to overthrow their government, the Associated Press reports. 

"I knew that that was the confession they wanted to hear and I was told if you confess there may be forgiveness and if you’re not frank, if you don’t confess, then the worst could happen," Ling said. "It was the most difficult decision to have to do that. I didn’t know if I was sealing my fate. But I just had to trust that this was the right thing to do."

Ling said her job with Current TV, a media venture founded by former Vice President Al Gore, caused suspicion in her captors. She and fellow journalist Euna Lee were captured by North Korea in Marcy 2009 after briefly crossing into the country while reporting about the sex trade.

After being captured, they had a few minutes alone when they deleted digital photos from their cameras and ate their notes to protect their sources. They were then interrogated separately to learn why they had entered the country.