Posted on 04/13/2005 7:33:14 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
PYONGYANG (AFP) - In North Korea's decades-long struggle with the United States, it is perhaps the Communist nation's favourite trophy.
The USS Pueblo, a 53.8 metre-long (176.5 foot-long) ship the North Koreans seized in 1968 in a move that almost brought the nations to war, remains docked in one of the most prominent positions of the Taedong River in Pyongyang.
Foreigners are brought to the Pueblo on government-controlled tour packages and media visits to recall the time North Korea, as a tourist pamphlet says, brought the "US imperialists ... to their knees".
"Although the government of the US submitted the surrender documents, the Pueblo couldn't return to its country, for it is a permanent trophy of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," the pamphlet says.
According to the North Koreans, their patrol boats seized the Pueblo after the vessel had been caught spying in its territorial waters.
The incident occurred as tensions between the two nations were starting to heat up again amid the uneasy armistice that was brokered to end the 1950-53 Korean War.
One crew member was killed in the takeover of the Pueblo and the other 82 brought to Pyongyang for an 11-month saga that severely embarrassed and infuriated the United States.
The US version of events was that the Pueblo was an intelligence gathering vessel in international waters off the coast of North Korea when the North Koreans attacked it.
North Korea was adamant the vessel was an intruding spy ship and refused to release the crew until the US admitted its guilt.
During the standoff, the US built up its military forces around North Korea but the Stalinist nation refused to budge.
The crew members were filmed signing a letter of apology and confessing, although they later said they only did so because of pressure from the North Koreans.
The crew was finally released after almost a year when the US government reluctantly signed a letter admitting the Pueblo was a spy ship and had entered North Korean waters.
Thirty-seven years later, the North Korean government and military continue to bask in their "victory".
"The people of the world unanimously saw ... the might of the US was shattered again by the Korean people," the commentator in a DVD documentary that is shown to visitors in the Pueblo's mess hall says.
The vessel, which the US navy website says remains the property of the United States, has been kept in relatively good condition with the North Koreans striving to present it in all its glory.
Each artefact, from the decoding room to the vessel's plaque, provides enduring ammunition for the North Korean government in its efforts to boost the morale of the Korean People's Army (KPA).
"The veterans who captured the Pueblo and the new soldiers of the KPA say; 'Whoever makes a reckless attack upon our country will never return alive like the Pueblo!'," the tourist brochure says.
I remember a picture NK released of the crew. Many of the crew were flipping the bird to the camera. The local (family) newspaper titled the picture..."American servicemen showing the traditional American sign of defiance".
You may choose to look up the word "steal", apparently you have no grasp of it's meaning.
First I'd heard that, it's sort of surprising I missed the move. But I did look it up and you are of course correct.
How humiliating, but then just having the SinkMeister as President was pretty humiliating in itself.
What we should have done was take it back with a SEAL team, with frigates or destroyers in support, plus overhead USAF assets from South Korean or Japan, assuming we didn't have a carrier nearby at the time.
We got the crew of the P-3 back much quicker, the ChiComs didn't dare tortue them, and we also got the aircraft back. If it had been flyable, we'd have gotten it back even quicker.
Neither LBJ nor "W", LET the communists take our craft and crews, but what they did about it was much different.
Why bother with a sub, just send in a B-2 with JDAM's. Boom no more ship. But if we are going bomb North Korea, lets go after their Glorious Leader, and leave *our* ship alone. A bomb or two on the dock and any on shore "Museum" facilities wouldn't hurt.
note the photos
My dad was the Security Officer at Yokosuka in Japan at the time (The Pueblo's home port while deployed) and my dad knew Cdr. Bucher well and had socialized with him. I was 11 at the time, and when this happened, my dad was absent for several weeks. I never made the connection, because he always had worked unusual hours, but my mom recently told me that during that time, he was living in the Comm shack on the base.
Cdr. Bucher was a decent man who was deserted by his country. He did the best he could with what he had. He was no rising star by any means, but not everyone can have a Carrier or Attack sub. He passed away recently, may he rest in peace.
I've got to get a thread up with a lot of the pictures we are noticing with WHO looks like WHO.
That has got to be related to the Genome Project.
Right now, I'm stuck with a Red Rose mystery that I can't let go of.
This story fails to mention the crew posing for a photo, flipping the camera an American Good Luck signal. They got some extra beatings for that.
http://www.temple.edu/history/images/pueblocrew.gif
Sorry for not posting the pic (HTML deficient)
President Clinton's administration refused to intercept it while it was off the South Korean coast.
Any source on this?
Say what you want about the USAF but General McKee from Okinawa sent armed fighter jets toward the Pueblo under his direction and in defiance of the Navy and the White House with orders to blow all of the North Koreans out of the water that were near the Pueblo if they got there before the North Koreans got the Pueblo into the Harbor. General McKee, USAF, was not the closest (the Navy had a Carrier within minutes of the Pueblo) but was the only member of a high command with balls. He was later reprimanded for his actions.
A laser guided bomb is very precise. I understand you can sink a small ship with one, and if it's tied up in port it's very easy.
It could still be done, and would be.....if we had cajones.
I think if we did it, Kimmey boy would pee his pants and go into hiding with his porno films. It could be the start of freedom for the poor poor souls of the North.
I'm imagining the day we casually tow it back to the States. That is, after the fall of one of the most wicked governments in existence. We will, one day, give her a decent burial. It will be on our terms. I think it deserves the same promise made by MacCarther to the Philipines. We too, will one day return.
I'm imagining the day we casually tow it back to the States. That is, after the fall of one of the most wicked governments in existence. We will, one day, give her a decent burial. It will be on our terms. I think it deserves the same promise made by MacCarther to the Philipines. We too, will one day return.
Care to add your two cents worth?
Don't worry - we're eventually going to get her back, intact. And sooner than you think, if Iran collapses of its own weight or the Israelis remove the nuclear threat for themselves.
Exactly. As if Bush is Buford Pusser or something.
Doesn't seem to matter which party is in power, the NKs seem to face them all down. Nixon was in power in Apr 69 when a NK jet ambushed an EC-121 aircraft from Atsugi, and all 31 aboard were murdered. Our response? Tut-tut, you meanies. The NKs ambushed and killed our soldiers all along the DMZ in the 1960s, and we harumphed. Our firmest response was to the DMZ ax murders in 1976 (Ford the boss).
Glad to see so many others of the same mind: sink the Pueblo, give her an honorable end. Missed a chance more than once, in her transit from Wonsan to Nampo and back.
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