On Jan. 23, 1968, North Korea attacked and seized the USS Pueblo, a barely armed spy ship that was operating in the international waters near the coast of the country. The vessel was there to gather intelligence on North Korea’s military and had sensitive encryption equipment and intelligence documents. One American crewmember was killed during the seizure, but the 82 others were imprisoned and mistreated for nearly a year, writes Quartz. The year 1968 was a particularly bad year for the U.S. and North Korea’s relationship. After the ship was captured, the US Navy insisted that the crew be returned and that North Korea apologize, but Pyongyang did not bend. They, in turn, said that the USS Pueblo had been operating in North Korea’s waters, not international ones, and demanded that the U.S. apologize and promise that this would never happen again. During this fight, the crew was starved, interrogated, beaten and psychologically tortured by their captors. Commander Lloyd M. Bucher was put in front of a mock firing squad and his captors threatened to kill his men in front of him. Today, the vessel is a tourist attraction on the Potong River as part of a war museum in Pyongyang.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
