Richardson: Tour of captured warship 'unpleasant'

[leobold1]

Richardson: Tour of captured warship 'unpleasant' - CNN.com

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday toured a U.S. warship captured by North Korea in the 1960s that is now used to inspire anti-American sentiment in the reclusive communist regime.

The North Korea colonel who served as Richardson's guide smiled as he told the governor the ship was an example of continued U.S. aggression toward his country. Richardson and his traveling companion, former Veteran Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, were then shown bullet holes circled in red paint and a video describing the maneuvering of "brazen-faced U.S. imperialists."

The USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea on Jan. 23, 1968, after being sent defenseless on an intelligence-gathering mission off the country's coast. It was the first U.S. warship captured since 1807, and remains the only active-duty warship in foreign hands.

Navy records show the ship was in international waters at the time of its capture; the North insists it was inside the Korean coastal zone. North Korea held the ship's crew of 82 for 11 months before releasing them. The ship was then moored to the bank of the Taedong River in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate who is in North Korea this week to collect the remains of U.S. servicemen killed in the Korean War, said the tour of the ship was "unpleasant."

"Despite the success with the remains, this is a relationship with a lot of tension, and this shows that," Richardson told reporters after the tour.

He called the Pueblo visit "a lot of propaganda, but we're guests here."

Principi, who was a Navy officer at the time of the Pueblo's capture, said it was disconcerting to have something from that era still on display.

"It's very unpleasant to hear the assertion of continued aggression against the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea," Principi said.

Pak In Ho, the North Korean naval colonel who led the U.S. delegation on the tour, told the Americans that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had personally decreed that the ship should be used for "an anti-American education."

"This spy ship, the Pueblo, is considered a vivid, living example of such hostile policies by the U.S. against the DPRK," Pak said through an interpreter, using the formal name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

More than 33,000 American troops died in the Korean War from 1950-1953, and more than 8,100 are listed as missing. After North Korea invaded South Korea, U.S. forces intervened on behalf of the South while Chinese forces backed the North.

Richardson's four-day trip, which has been endorsed by the Bush administration, comes days before a crucial deadline in a recent nuclear disarmament accord. Under the terms of the agreement, the North said it would shut down its main nuclear reactor by April 14.

Richardson has regularly made diplomatic trips, often on his own initiative, to a number of global hot spots. Though visits to North Korea by senior U.S. officials are rare, this was Richardson's sixth to the country.

[Woodmonkey]

Navy records show the ship was in international waters at the time of its capture; the North insists it was inside the Korean coastal zone. North Korea held the ship's crew of 82 for 11 months before releasing them.

I'd forgotten that it was so many sailors for so long a time.

[Shooterman]

If I recall correctly, wasn't the skipper of the Pueblo cashier out of the Navy or am I mistaken?

[leobold1]

Originally Posted by Shooterman

If I recall correctly, wasn't the skipper of the Pueblo cashier out of the Navy or am I mistaken?

USS Pueblo (AGER-2) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pueblo was taken into port at Wonsan and the crew was moved twice to POW camps, with some of the crew reporting on release they were starved and regularly tortured while in North Korean custody. This treatment was allegedly worsened when the North Koreans realized that crewmen were secretly giving them "the finger" in staged propaganda photos.[2]

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." [3] [4]

Following a written admission by the US that Pueblo had been spying, an apology 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 resultant 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 believed to be the first American ship to have been captured since the wars in Tripoli, including an April 2007 CNN article [1] but that is incorrect. On December 8, 1941, the river gunboat USS Wake (PR-3) was captured by Japanese forces while moored in Shanghai.

[KBay84]

In fact, the ship was not unarmed. It had taken on two .50 cal guns. As depicted in the Wiki web site info, the guns would have been no tactical gain if used.
Lots of good info here... usspueblo

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 (AGER-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)


Shooterman;

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.

See above link.

[KBay84]

Think the Iranians have been reading any history lately?

U.S./Brit ships near but not into aggressor waters.

Agressors announce allied forces invaded first, illegally
detain and threaten to kill by firing squad.

Mock firing squad scenario played out to intimidate
those kidnapped.

Aggressors feign benevolence by releasing ill-gotten
captives.

Aggressors invade South Korea / manufacture weapons
grade nuclear substances.

[Shooterman]

Thanks, folks, for clearing that up. My old BFBrain couldn't remember and I was too lazy to look it up.