Today in 1968, the US intelligence-gathering ship Pueblo was seized by North Korean naval vessels and charged with spying and violating North Korean waters. Negotiations to free the 83-man crew drug on for nearly a year. We denied that the ship was in their waters; the ship was performing its routine intelligence gathering duties inthe Sea of Japan. In Dec 68, the commander of the ship, Captain Lloyd Bucher grudgingly signed a confession that his ship was spying on North Korea prior to its capture. With this propaganda victory in hand, the crew was released.
The North Koreans are acting up, again. They have never been rational, by our standards. Negotiating with them only ends up giving them what they want. Thus we have trained them that violating international law is the way to prosperity. We should stop reinforcing that point.
