# North Korea Hints At Returning USS Pueblo



## Blackadder1916 (16 Apr 2007)

N. Korea hints at returning Pueblo: source
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/Engnews/20070415/610000000020070415113150E2.html

SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea expressed its willingness to return an unarmed U.S. navy ship it captured nearly 40 years when a U.S. delegation visited the communist country last week, a diplomatic source said Sunday.

But North Korea provided no specific conditions for the return of the USS Pueblo, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. delegation, led by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, visited North Korea to retrieve the remains of six U.S. soldier from the 1950-53 Korean War. He returned to Seoul with the remains at the end of the four-day trip.

In North Korea, Richardson and other U.S. delegation members were taken to the U.S. ship on display for anti-U.S. propaganda at the Daedong River flowing through the North's capital Pyongyang, the source said.

"The North Korean side told the delegates that it can hand over the ship anytime, apparently to show off its will to liquidate its hostile relations with the U.S.," the source said.

The 906-ton U.S. ship is a symbol of Cold War confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington. The United States fought on South Korea's side in the Korean War. About 29,000 U.S. soldiers are currently stationed in South Korea.

The U.S. ship was seized off North Korea's coast on Jan. 23, 1968. In the attack, one U.S. sailor was killed and several others wounded. Eighty-two surviving sailors were held there for 11 months before they were released.

The U.S. identified the USS Pueblo as a research ship but North Korea claimed that it was on a spying mission.

It is not the first time that North Korean has expressed its willingness to return the 906-ton ship.

After a 2005 visit to Pyongyang, former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg quoted North Korean officials as saying that they had no need to keep the ship if a top-level American official makes a trip to the communist country as a goodwill gesture towards normalizing relations between the two countries.

The latest North Korean gesture comes amid active international efforts to denuclearize North Korea. A Feb. 13 six-party agreement calls for improved ties between Pyongyang and Washington, aside from making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.

If the U.S. takes concrete steps to normalize relations with North Korea, the communist regime in Pyongyang may actually give back the ship, said the same source in Seoul.

(END)


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## Exarecr (16 Apr 2007)

Theres a name I haven't heard since public school and our morning current affairs discussions in grade 8. I remember doing a short verbal report with regards to both sides of this incident though i suppose i was somewhat biased. The Captain of the ship died just a few years ago and ironically, his funeral was televised for all to see on a reality TV Funeral show who's name escapes me unfortunately. Odd how death brings out the oddity of life.


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## geo (16 Apr 2007)

I would propose that, if they do return the ship, the US Navy should gather up as many of it's crew as possible and have them bring the ship back into a friendly port (yokohama ?) ... prior to hauling her away to the wrecker's yard


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## Blackadder1916 (19 Apr 2007)

Senator Suggests Deal For Return Of USS Pueblo
19th-century war trophy could help spur return captured ship from North Korea, legislator says 
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/04/marine_pueblo_070418/


> By John Hoellwarth - Staff writer  Posted : Wednesday Apr 18, 2007 22:56:12 EDT
> 
> A war trophy on display at the Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Md., may be the key to securing the return of a Navy ship captured by North Korea nearly 40 years ago, Senator Wayne Allard, R-Colo., wrote in a March 18 letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
> 
> ...



Somehow I think the North Koreans would want more than a flag in trade.


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