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'USS ''Pueblo'' (AGER-2)' is a ''Banner''-class technical research ship (Navy intelligence) which was boarded and captured by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) on 23 January 1968 in what is known as the '''Pueblo'' incident' or alternatively as the '''Pueblo'' crisis'.
The DPRK stated that she strayed into their territorial waters, but the United States maintains that the vessel was in international waters at the time of the incident. More recently, facts have come to light that indicate that USS ''Pueblo'' was captured by North Korea at the instigation of the Soviet Union, which was seeking a cryptographic machine onboard to match with a ''key'' provided to the Soviets by the spy John Anthony Walker.^[1]
USS ''Pueblo'', still held by DPRK today, remains a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has specified that it be used to promote anti-Americanism.^[2]

Contents

Initial operations

Activity and conflict near the DPRK

Aftermath

Tourist attraction

North Korea offers to repatriate the USS ''Pueblo''

See also

Sources

References

External links

Initial operations

The ship was launched at the Kewaunee Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, on 16 April 1944 as United States Army cargo ship FS-344. She was transferred to the United States Navy in 1966 and was renamed USS ''Pueblo''. Initially, she served as a light cargo ship, 'AKL-44', but shortly after resuming service was converted to an intelligence gathering ship, or what is colloquially known as a spy ship, and re-designated 'AGER-2' on 13 May 1967. AGER (Auxiliary General Environmental Research) denoted a joint Naval and National Security Agency (NSA) program.^[3]

Activity and conflict near the DPRK

On January 5, 1968, ''Pueblo'' left for Sasebo, Japan. She left Sasebo on January 11 with specific orders to intercept and conduct surveillance of Soviet naval activity in the Tsushima Straits and to gather signal and electronic intelligence from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.^[4]
On January 21 a modified Soviet style sub chaser, SO-I class, passed within two miles (4 km) of the ''Pueblo''.
The next day, two DPRK fishing trawlers (Lenta Class) passed within 25 yards of ''Pueblo''. That day, a North Korean unit made an assassination attempt against South Korean leadership targets, but the crew of ''Pueblo'' was not informed.
According to the American account, the following day, January 23, ''Pueblo'' was approached by a sub chaser and her nationality was challenged, ''Pueblo'' responded by raising the US flag. The DPRK vessel then ordered her to stand down or be fired upon. ''Pueblo'' attempted to maneuver away, but was considerably slower than the sub chaser. Additionally, three torpedo boats appeared on the horizon and then joined in the chase and subsequent attack. The attackers were soon joined by two MiG-21 fighters. A fourth torpedo boat and a second sub chaser appeared on the horizon a short time later. The ammunition on ''Pueblo'' was stored below decks, and her machine guns were wrapped in cold-weather tarpaulins. The machine guns were unmanned, and no attempt was made to man them.
US Naval authorities and the crew of the Pueblo insist that before the capture, ''Pueblo'' was miles outside North Korean territorial waters; the Koreans claim the vessel was well within the DPRK's territory. The mission statement allowed her to approach within a nautical mile (1.852 km) of that limit. The DPRK, however, claims a 50-nautical-mile sea boundary even though international standards are 12 nautical miles.^[5]
The North Korean vessels attempted to board ''Pueblo'', but she maneuvered to prevent this and a sub chaser opened fire with a 55 mm cannon. The smaller vessels fired machine guns into ''Pueblo'', which then signaled compliance and began destroying sensitive material. The volume of material on board was so great it made it impossible to destroy all of it.
Radio contact with Naval Security Group in Kamiseya, Japan had been ongoing. Seventh Fleet command was aware of ''Pueblo'''s situation. Help was promised but never arrived. More than likely, no one wanted to take responsibility for an attack on North Korean vessels attacking ''Pueblo''. By the time President Lyndon Johnson was awakened, ''Pueblo'' had been captured and any rescue attempt would be futile.
''Pueblo'' followed the North Korean vessels as ordered, but then stopped immediately outside North Korean waters. She was again fired upon, and a US sailor, Fireman Apprentice Duane Hodges, was killed. She was boarded by men from a torpedo boat and a sub chaser. Crew members had their hands tied, were blindfolded, beaten, and prodded with bayonets.
Once ''Pueblo'' was in North Korean territorial waters, she was boarded again, this time by high-ranking North Korean officials.

Aftermath

''Pueblo'' was taken into port at Wonsan and the crew was moved twice to POW camps, with some of the crew reporting upon release that they were starved and regularly tortured while in North Korean custody.^[6] This treatment was allegedly worsened when the North Koreans realized that crewmen were secretly giving them "the finger" in staged propaganda photos.^[7]
Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, Commanding Officer of the ''Pueblo'', was tortured and put through a mock firing squad in an effort to make him confess. Eventually the Koreans threatened to execute his men in front of him, and Bucher relented. None of the Koreans knew English well enough to write the confession, so they had Bucher write it himself. They verified the meaning of his words, but failed to catch the pun when he said "We paean the North Korean state. We paean their great leader Kim Il Sung"^[8][9]
("''We paean''" sounds almost identical to "''we pee on''").
Following an apology, a written admission by the US that ''Pueblo'' had been spying, and an assurance that the US would not spy in the future, the North Korean government decided to release the 82 remaining crew members. On 23 December 1968 the crew was taken by buses to the DMZ border with South Korea and ordered to walk south across the "Bridge of No Return". Exactly 11 months after being taken prisoner, the Captain led the long line of crewmen, followed at the end by the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Ed Murphy, the last man across the bridge. The US then verbally retracted the ransom admission, apology, and assurance. Meanwhile the North Koreans blanked out the paragraph above the signature which read: "and this hereby receipts for 82 crewmen and one dead body". Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, Commanding Officer of the ''Pueblo'' and all the officers and crew appeared before a Navy Court of Inquiry. A court martial was recommended for the CO and the Officer in Charge of the Research Department, Lt Steve Harris. But the Secretary of the Navy, John H. Chafee, rejected the recommendation, stating, "They have suffered enough." Commander Bucher was never found guilty of any indiscretions and continued his Navy career until retirement.
There is some debate as to whether Commander Bucher acted within his orders. It was clearly stated in his orders that Bucher was not to spark an international incident. The Americans allege that North Korea attacked and boarded ''Pueblo'' in international waters — a clear act of war, whereas the DPRK has stated the ''Pueblo'' was in violation of the territorial limit. Historically, US ships engaged in the collection of intelligence would often approach the very limits of territorial waters and sometimes cross over for brief periods of time. Such actions would often prompt the target country to mobilize parts of their military and thereby provide more intelligence for the US ship to capture. The question is posed whether or not Bucher should have kept ''Pueblo'' in the area after the first encounter of a gunboat. Those familiar with the operations of the ship point out that such encounters were routine while on station, and it was expected that Bucher would remain on station in spite of such events. Further, Bucher was not informed of escalating tensions between North Korea and the South Korean-US bloc in the days leading up to the capture of ''Pueblo''. Bucher died in San Diego on January 28, 2004, partly resulting from complications from the injuries he had suffered of his time as a prisoner of war in North Korea.
''Pueblo'' is still held by North Korea. In October 1999, it was towed from Wonson on the east coast, around the Korean Peninsula, to Nampo on the west coast. This required moving the vessel through international waters. No attempt to recapture the ''Pueblo'' was made. This move was done just before the visit of US presidential envoy James Kelly to the capital Pyongyang. The present location of ''Pueblo'' is in Pyongyang.
The ''Pueblo'' (AGER-2) was the third ship named after Pueblo, Colorado. It remains today a commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy. It is widely, but incorrectly, believed to be the first American ship to have been captured since the wars in Tripoli.^[2] On December 8, 1941, the river gunboat USS ''Wake'' (PR-3) was captured by Japanese forces while moored in Shanghai.^[11]

Tourist attraction

USS ''Pueblo'' is one of the primary tourist attractions in Pyongyang, North Korea, having attracted over 250,000 visitors since being moved to the Taedong River.^[12] The ''Pueblo'' is now anchored at the very spot where the General Sherman Incident is believed to have taken place in 1866. Often tourists are led through the ship by a guided tour. Participants will first enter the ship for a 15-minute video shown from a small TV set mounted in the ceiling, explaining how the North Koreans captured the ship, with some old film footage from that time. All areas of the ship are shown, including the secret communications room full of encryption machines and radio equipment, still in a partly disassembled state after they were inspected by North Korean technicians. One highlight of the guided tour is a photo opportunity where visitors may have their pictures taken while holding the rear-mounted machine-gun.

North Korea offers to repatriate the USS ''Pueblo''

During an August 2005 diplomatic session in North Korea, former US Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg received verbal indications from high-ranking North Korean officials that the state would be willing to repatriate the USS ''Pueblo'' to United States authorities, on the condition that a prominent US government official, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, come to Pyongyang for high-level talks. While the US government has publicly stated on several occasions that the return of the still-commissioned Navy vessel is a priority, the current overall situation of US-North Korean relations makes such an official state visit very unlikely. The US government has taken the position that North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions, human rights record, and its reputation as a sponsor of terrorism are its main concerns, and that the USS ''Pueblo'' is of low priority at this time.
During an October 2000 visit to Pyongyang by then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, North Korean negotiators reportedly presented an offer to repatriate the USS ''Pueblo'' as part of a proposed process of normalizing diplomatic relations between the two nations. However, the Department of State is unable to confirm this claim. The offer dissipated with the US policy shift under George W. Bush.

See also

★ USS ''Pueblo'' for other ships of the same name.

★ Gulf of Tonkin Incident

★ USS ''Liberty'' incident

★ Technical research ship

★ List of hostage crises

Sources

★ [3]

★ [4]

References

1. pp. 54-58.
2. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/09/richardson.pueblo.ap/index.html
3. http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p13/pueblo-iii.htm
4. [1]
5. American Society of International Law. Proceedings of the American Society of International Law: at its sixty-third
annual meeting held at Washington, D.C. April 24-26, 1969. "Questions of international law raised by the seizure of the U.S.S. Pueblo."
6. [2]
7. http://groups.msn.com/ctoseadogs/usspueblocrew1.msnw
8. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22978
9. http://www.thepalmbeachtimes.com/Pages/Korea.html
10. http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/09/richardson.pueblo.ap/index.html
11. http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w1/wake.htm
12. Caroline Gluck, "North Korea drags its feet", BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1626579.stm (accessed 2007-01-23)

External links

★ YouTube video taken of and aboard the USS Pueblo in Korea

★ Website maintained by former ''Pueblo'' crew members

★ CNN.com obituary for Commander Lloyd M. Bucher

★ USS Pueblo on Google Maps satellite image

★ -- a 1973 TV movie about the ''Pueblo'' incident