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| Senate demands return of USS Pueblo | |
| 2005-02-24 | |
| WASHINGTON - As diplomatic efforts to end a nuclear standoff between Washington and Pyongyang make little headway, a resolution has been introduced in the US Senate demanding that North Korea return an American intelligence ship seized by the hardline communist state 37 years ago. The attack on the USS Pueblo by North Korean naval vessels and MiG jets on January 23, 1968, left one American dead and several more wounded while 82 surviving crew members were captured, held prisoner and tortured for a year. The Senate resolution demands the return of the vessel, believed still in North Korean hands. "North Koreas inhumane treatment of our sailors, and the refusal of Pyongyang to return this vessel should not be forgotten," said Senator Wayne Allard, who filed the resolution this month after the Stalinist state stunned the world by publicly boasting about its nuclear weapons arsenal. The Republican senator from Colorado said although it had been more than three decades since the "disgraceful episode" occurred, "the United States government should demand the return of the USS Pueblo to the US Navy without further delay."
Fred Carriere, executive director of The Korea Society and an experienced Korea hand, said he visited the ship last year during a trip to Pyongyang with the society's chairman and ex-ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg. "It was docked in the Tedong River and is still impressive and seaworthy," he told AFP. "From the Korean point of view it is an educational exhibit and one of the most sacred trophies aimed at making the point of history about American invasions of Korea," he said. It is believed that North Korea had given serious consideration to returning the USS Pueblo to the United States in the spring of 2002 as part of a "confidence building measure," just months before a nuclear standoff flared up in the fall of that year, an Asian diplomat close to Pyongyang told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #13 I'm with AP and Shipman here. Blow the damn thing up. An ADCAP from 40,000 yards is stealthy and provides lots of WTF WAS THAT??!!?? when it detonates. Stuff blowing up unexpectedly just might jump start the stalled negotiations! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2005-02-24 10:47:49 PM |
| #12 No precision weapons. Carpet MOAB bombing of the harbor is far more amusing. Then we'll just claim the norks had another 'accident'. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2005-02-24 10:15:00 PM |
| #11 A few of those GPS guided concrete-filled JDAMS dropped from a B-2 would punch holes straight through this old ship. Just a thought. |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-02-24 11:57:15 AM |
| #10 Carriere said it all. It's a "sacred trophy" to the North Koreans. They have museums that exhibit pictures of the Korean War...gloating over dead Americans. They gotta go. |
| Posted by: shellback 2005-02-24 11:51:29 AM |
| #9 By the by, I had the unique misfortune of hearing Ambassador Gregg of the Korea Society speak to a group of naval officers. Any statements from the Korea Society should be taken with a dumptruck of road salt. They're starting point is basically that we provoked the Korean War and have been needlessly antagonizing the Norks ever since. He was also shamelessly anti-Japanese. Gregg is ex-CIA, so interpret that as you will. Beware diplomats angling for Nobel Peace Prizes. |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2005-02-24 10:36:47 AM |
| #8 I think there's a SEAL team or two that could take care of the matter. Sink it at dock. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-02-24 10:04:30 AM |
| #7 If it's possible I think a Mk48 ADCAP torpedo under the keel would make all kinda points. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-02-24 9:42:31 AM |
| #6 "...return of the vessel, believed still in North Korean hands..." Believed? Journalists are such jerks. Read the whole article and you can put a pin on your North Korean map. It's a f##king museum and a monument to our lack of testosterone. Sink it now. |
| Posted by: Tom 2005-02-24 8:46:29 AM |
| #5 We should remember that the Norks took the Pueblo at the behest of the Soviets during the Walker spy-ring time. The Sovs used the Nork reputation for craziness in order to get US naval codes and encryption gear. |
| Posted by: Spot 2005-02-24 8:34:51 AM |
| #4 Absolutly,AP(hows that new Grandbaby),but it should be loud,spectacular,& devastating.I sugest 1/2 dozen cruise missles,2 with HE,2 with CBU,2 with FAE. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-02-24 7:47:08 AM |
| #3 "It is believed that North Korea had given serious consideration to returning the USS Pueblo to the United States in the spring of 2002 as part of a âconfidence building measure,â just months before a nuclear standoff flared up in the fall of that year, an Asian diplomat close to Pyongyang told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity." My a*s. That ship is staying in Wonsan until it sinks from neglect or we sink it...and frankly, I think we need to whack it now, just to prove a point. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-02-24 7:28:18 AM |
| #2 "It had to apologize to North Korea for the spying mission before receiving the surviving crew." Lefty revisionists will do everything possible to legitimize this "apology" not mentioning that the US Admiral who signed it denounced it as false, meaningless, and extracted under duress the very moment the crew were released. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2005-02-24 4:56:19 AM |
| #1 How about this confidence building measure---Sink the ship in the harbor and be done with it. Nothing spectacular. Just a hole in the hull and sink it. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-02-24 12:58:37 AM |