Pueblo wants the Pueblo back

Steve Dore sent me the link to the Pueblo Chieftain article below, so Steve is the Yangban of the Day.

The City of Pueblo, Colorado would like for the North Koreans to give the USS Pueblo back to the USA. If you haven't heard of the Pueblo before, here is a brief description of its claim to fame from the Official USS Pueblo Web Page:

The USS PUEBLO was a U. S. Navy vessel sent on an intelligence mission off the coast of North Korea. On January 23, 1968, the USS PUEBLO was attacked by North Korean naval vessels and MiG jets. One man was killed and several were wounded. The Eighty-two surviving crew members were captured and held prisoner for 11 months.

The Pueblo is still in Pyongyang, being kept by the Norks as a trophy. To add to the sybolism of the display, it is docked at the same place where the USS General Sheman was destroyed and its crew massacred in 1866. BTW, the Norks claim that Kim Jong-il's great-great-granddaddy led the attack against the Sherman.

According to the Pueblo Chieftain, the city of Pueblo is enlisting the help of former ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg in an attempt to get the USS Pueblo returned:

Donald Gregg, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current chair of The Korea Society based in New York City, said he also saw no anti-America propaganda which reportedly once was displayed on the ship. Gregg visited the Pueblo earlier this month on his third trip to North Korea.

Meanwhile, Gregg said he thinks he and others can help convince North Korea to return the ship, but the timing isn't good right now given the strained relations between the United States and North Korea over the issue of nuclear weapons research and development.

Gregg seems to have taken the project to heart and mentions it whenever he meets with North Korean officials:

Gregg said he holds his own fascination with the future of the Pueblo. Years ago he approached North Korean leaders about returning the ship, maybe the first time anyone from the United States put the idea directly to the country, he said. "This had never occurred to them before and they took it quite seriously."

However, the country backed away in 2002 as tensions mounted between the United States and North Korea over the country's nuclear weapons research and development, Gregg said. Still, Korea left open the possibility of resuming talks if relations between the two countries improve.

Now in his talks, Gregg said makes frequent mention of the city of Pueblo's growing interest in hosting the ship's return.

"I think if it were known in North Korea that the people of Pueblo really have plans if the Pueblo were given back, that would make an impression," Gregg said.

Here is my new suggested negotiating point for the next round of the six-party talks; 'throw in the USS Pueblo and six-pack of Bud and you've got a deal.'

Comments

[lirelou]

Esteemed Yangbang,

Listing the MV General Sherman as the "USS General Sherman" is incorrect. "USS" properly designates a U.S. Navy warship, which the General Sherman was not. While the gunboat that was later re-flagged as the "General Sherman" did sail for the U.S. Navy during the civil war, it was a private merchant ship at the time of its ill-advised trip to Pyongyang.

I realize that this seems inconceivable to some of our Korean ultra-nationalist friends, but merchant ships in Asia did go armed during this period, and former U.S. Naval vessels were for sale on the cheap in the period following the U.S. Civil War, which due to the legacy of wartime procurement and production, spawned the first "Army Surplus" industry.

[Ralph]

How about a six-pack of Coors instead of Bud. But then again only if it is done after the November elections so as not to help Peter Coors win the US Senate seat.

[The Yangban]

lirelou,
I was wondering about the USS on the General Sherman, but the site I read called it that, so I included it.

I have also heard (but not confirmed) that many freighters in the South Pacific are still armed with light weapons (rifles and such).

[Paul H.]

So what's Amb Gregg's projected scenario? Presumably a delegation of smiling but servile Americans from Pueblo will arrive in NorK hat in hand. After paying a suitable fee for 30 plus years of "docking" the NorK's wave a hand dismissively and turn on their heel, leaving Uncle Sam to pay all the expenses to refloat her and get her under way.

I can think of several preferred alternate scenarios, based on the historical precedent at this link:

http://www.publicbookshelf.org/public_html/The_Great_Republic_By_the_Master_Historians_Vol_II/usnavalh_jd.html
("Yangban edit: For those too lazy to cut 'n paste, Paul H's link is here.)

It'll never happen of course since it's too horribly "insensitive" for this day and age. But I do hope the CINCPAC and Commander USFK are maintaining the complete destruction of the Pueblo as a priority target in the first wave of airstrikes if the balloon ever goes up.

Like the Philadelphia, Pueblo should have been destroyed by a US attack immediately after her capture (she was docked in Wonsan harbor for many years before removal to current location).

[The Marmot]

Paul H. -- Not to take anything away from Decatur's courage, but it doesn't say much about that conflict that our greatest feat was burning one of our own ships.

[Paul H.]

"Fubars" are inevitable in human affairs and especially in military ones, but courage and steadfastness in the face of a ruthless and remorseless adversity is always a conscious choice that can be selected or foregone.

Decatur's feat was acclaimed by Nelson as the "exploit of the age" which means something. I'm sure Decatur AL was named for him.

Neither nations nor individuals get to demonstrate such courage for only a brief period in their early lives, receiving a "free pass" thereafter. Something our current Democratic Presidential nominee would have done well to remember.

[Jing]

The restoration of the Pueblo to the U.S. maybe a fine place to start boosting strained relations. However, as U.S. negotiators have consistantly stressed to the North in the current talks, one must reciprocate in kind. In the case of the Pueblo, the U.S. would be somewhat obligated to return a Korean flag seized in the 1871 reprisal for the burning of the Sherman. As far as I am aware the flag of general Uh Je-yeon, commander of the defeated Korean garrison, remains a trophy in the U.S. naval academy museum at Annapolis.

[Paul H.]

"Strained relations" is the understatement of the year.

But I endorse your proposal heartily, and accept the obligation without even a "somewhat". The seized flag should be returned to the ROK government forthwith, and displayed honorably in a museum in Seoul.

[jtb-in-texas]

since the "sunshine policy" is apparently still in place, how about we demand the South arrange for the return of the Pueblo in return for sending the flag back to Seoul... what they do with it after that is their business...