I have always thought that any deal signed with the North Koreans should first include the return of the USS Pueblo for this very reason:
This photo, captured from the North’s Central TV on April 6, 2012, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspecting the captured U.S. spy ship Pueblo. (Yonhap)
North Korea boastfully threatened to strongly confront future U.S. hostility Monday, when it marked the 49th anniversary of its seizure of the U.S. intelligence boat Pueblo.
The 906-ton U.S. Navy ship was captured by the North in January 1968. The North claimed the ship violated its territorial waters, while the U.S. argued it was in international waters at the time of the attack. One crew member was killed in the attack, and 80 others and two civilian oceanographers were seized. All of them were freed from an 11-month captivity after the U.S. signed a letter of apology. Since then, Pueblo, named after a city in Colorado, has been on display at the War Victory Hall along the Taedong River in Pyongyang for propaganda purposes.
The U.S. should remember the shameful lesson from the Pueblo case, the North’s propaganda website Uriminjokkiri said.
“Our republic has the mighty military power to counter any kind of war that the U.S. chooses,” it said.
The North has the power to completely eliminate U.S. imperialism from the Earth, which has inflicted immeasurable misfortune and sufferings on the Korean people, it added.
“The U.S. will face a position more miserable than that in the Pueblo case if it forgets that lesson and frantically pursues new ways to provoke war against the North,” the North’s Central TV station said. [Yonhap]
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the USS Pueblo used to be docked at Wonsan on the NK east coast. In 1999, Kim Jong-Il had it towed to Pyongyang (in international waters and around the peninsula). The Clinton administration made no effort to retake the ship in order to avoid disrupting a diplomatic visit to NK.
Kim Jong-Il timed the move just right, and Bubba was all talk, no action.
If you’d like to know more about the USS Pueblo incident, check out my book “Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo.” It’s a fascinating story, and a must-read for U.S. military/naval history buffs. Signed copies available via http://www.JackCheevers.net.
You fools you would be leveled in matter of minutes.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the USS Pueblo used to be docked at Wonsan on the NK east coast. In 1999, Kim Jong-Il had it towed to Pyongyang (in international waters and around the peninsula). The Clinton administration made no effort to retake the ship in order to avoid disrupting a diplomatic visit to NK.
Kim Jong-Il timed the move just right, and Bubba was all talk, no action.
If you’d like to know more about the USS Pueblo incident, check out my book “Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the Spy Ship Pueblo.” It’s a fascinating story, and a must-read for U.S. military/naval history buffs. Signed copies available via http://www.JackCheevers.net.
Jax,
It was not towed. It went under its own power disguised as a fishing trawler.
Tim in Tagum sendzzzzzzzzzzzzz