NK prepares seized US ship for show
Source: Agencies |
July 26, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IF there was ever any doubt about what happened to the only US Navy ship that is being held by a foreign government, North Korea has cleared it up. It's in Pyongyang. And it looks like it's here to stay.
With a fresh coat of paint and a new home along the Pothong River, the USS Pueblo, a spy ship seized off North Korea's east coast in the late 1960s, is expected to be unveiled this week as the centerpiece of a renovated war museum to commemorate the 60th anniversary tomorrow of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War.
Many of the crew who served on the vessel, then spent 11 months in captivity in North Korea, want to bring the Pueblo home. Throughout its history, they argue, the Navy's motto has been "don't give up the ship." The Pueblo, in fact, is still listed as a commissioned US Navy vessel, the only one being held by a foreign nation.
But with relations generally fluctuating in a narrow band between bad to dangerously bad, the United States has made little effort to get it back.
Already more than 40 years old and only lightly armed so it wouldn't look conspicuous as it carried out its intelligence missions, the USS Pueblo was attacked and captured on January 23, 1968.
One US sailor was killed and the remaining 82, including three injured, were taken prisoner. The North Koreans sailed the Pueblo to the port of Wonsan.
The incident quickly escalated. The US, already deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War, sent several aircraft carriers to the Sea of Japan and demanded the captives be released.
North Korea responded by putting members of the crew before cameras to confess publicly.
On December 21, 1968, Major General Gilbert H. Woodward, the chief US negotiator, signed a statement acknowledging that the Pueblo had illegally intruded into the territorial waters of North Korea and apologizing for "the grave acts committed by the US ship against" North Korea.
The hostages were released across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas two days before Christmas - 335 days after their capture.
With a fresh coat of paint and a new home along the Pothong River, the USS Pueblo, a spy ship seized off North Korea's east coast in the late 1960s, is expected to be unveiled this week as the centerpiece of a renovated war museum to commemorate the 60th anniversary tomorrow of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the Korean War.
Many of the crew who served on the vessel, then spent 11 months in captivity in North Korea, want to bring the Pueblo home. Throughout its history, they argue, the Navy's motto has been "don't give up the ship." The Pueblo, in fact, is still listed as a commissioned US Navy vessel, the only one being held by a foreign nation.
But with relations generally fluctuating in a narrow band between bad to dangerously bad, the United States has made little effort to get it back.
Already more than 40 years old and only lightly armed so it wouldn't look conspicuous as it carried out its intelligence missions, the USS Pueblo was attacked and captured on January 23, 1968.
One US sailor was killed and the remaining 82, including three injured, were taken prisoner. The North Koreans sailed the Pueblo to the port of Wonsan.
The incident quickly escalated. The US, already deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War, sent several aircraft carriers to the Sea of Japan and demanded the captives be released.
North Korea responded by putting members of the crew before cameras to confess publicly.
On December 21, 1968, Major General Gilbert H. Woodward, the chief US negotiator, signed a statement acknowledging that the Pueblo had illegally intruded into the territorial waters of North Korea and apologizing for "the grave acts committed by the US ship against" North Korea.
The hostages were released across the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas two days before Christmas - 335 days after their capture.
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