Gangwha Battle Flag Returned


Picture courtesy of DPRK Studies.

The battle flag taken by US Marines in the American Campaign of 1871 on Gangwha Island is being returned via a lease to the Korean government:

The United States has agreed to return a Korean battle flag to South Korea this month on a lease basis, 126 years after the U.S. Navy captured it during an armed conflict here in the 19th century, officials at a state-run culture administration said Tuesday.

The 4.5-meter by 4.5-meter flag has been on display at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland since the U.S. took it as "spoils" from Korean general Uh Je-yeon during a 1871 battle at Gwangseong Fort in Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul. The conflict broke out as the U.S. attempted to open Korea to trade, and was subsequently christened by the New York Herald as "Our Little War With The Heathen."
The Culture Heritage Administration said the U.S. Naval Academy has agreed on a up to 10-year lease of the flag to the South Korean side. 
[Yonhap]

I really don’t have a problem with the return of the flag, but I have to wonder if anything was done to get South Korea to pressure North Korea into returning the USS Pueblo in return for the US giving the battle flag back to South Korea.  I have steadfastly argued that we should cut no deals with North Korea and leverage maximum pressure on South Korea to return the USS Pueblo. 

Sadly I believe the sacrifices of the men of the USS Pueblo are as forgotten now by our country’s leadership as they were in 1968.

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Brendon Carr
16 years ago

I call dibs on the lawsuit once the flag is not returned!

jtb-in-texas
jtb-in-texas
16 years ago

I wonder if we'll survive as a nation long enough to see that… 😉

Richardson
16 years ago

Marines took it once, they can do it again…

Tim
Tim
16 years ago

Brendon,

Typical lawyer! Hehehe

GIKorea,

I have always been a strong advocate of getting the USS Pueblo back. The taking of the flag by the U.S. Marines should not be compared with that though because what the north Korean Navy did was piracy on the high seas and not part of any conflict between our respective governments.

GI Korea
16 years ago

I'm just saying we should use the flag as leverage to get the South Koreans to pressure Pyongyang to give back the Pueblo. Personally I would never have given the flag back during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. I would have waited until Lee Myung-bak is in power in order to help build him up as someone that can work with and get things done with Washington.

Additionally I think we shouldn't cut any deals with the North Koreans unless the return of the USS Pueblo is part of the deal.

trackback
16 years ago

[…] A good will gesture:http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2007/…9005000320.HTMLhttp://rokdrop.com/2007/10/10/gangwha-battle-flag-returned/ […]

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