[Opinion] USS Pueblo and New York Philharmonic

On January 23, 1968, the U.S. spy ship USS Pueblo on an intelligence-gathering mission was captured by North Korea in the East Sea and taken to Wonsan Port. The capture came two days after an attack by North Korean commandos led by Kim Shin-jo against Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea`s presidential office. Wednesday marked the 40th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. spy ship. Pueblo is on display on the banks of the Daedong River in Pyongyang as a symbol of its “victory” against the U.S. The USS General Sherman was attacked and sunk at the same site 122 years ago in 1886 by the army of the Joseon Dynasty which was enforcing its close-door policy. But the communist regime distorted this history in the book “Joseon History” by describing the General Sherman incident as "the first anti-American struggle, led by Kim Ung-u, the great-grandfather of Kim Il-sung.”

Then-U.S. President Lyndon Johnson immediately scrambled U.S. Air Force jets and dispatched the nuclear-armed USS Enterprise to the sea off Wonsan Port. The following day, officials from North Korea and the U.S. held a Military Armistice Commission meeting at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom and engaged in a war of words over whether the USS Pueblo was seized in the open sea or in North Korea’s territorial waters. Failing to reach a conclusion, they went on to conduct secret negotiations, which resulted in North Korea winning concessions. In exchange for repatriating the 82 crew members and one dead serviceman, the reclusive regime received from the U.S. an official apology and a memorandum admitting the U.S. trespassed into North Korean territorial waters.

The USS Pueblo, which has been exploited to imbue the North Korean people with anti-Americanism, is set to be a symbol of a resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue and improvements in U.S.-North Korean relations. Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, who asked for the return of the ship from Kim Kye-kwan, North Korea’s vice foreign minister, when he visited the North in April 2002, urged the return again in an interview with the press on Wednesday. He said, “The transfer of the USS Pueblo will put an end to the hostility between two nations and pave the way for the new relations.” Both the U.S. Senate and House Representatives came up with resolutions for the return in February 2005 and January 2007.

The New York Philharmonic’s concert is scheduled for Feb. 26 in Pyongyang. The orchestra’s performance in the North’s capital was announced in time for U.S. President George W. Bush’s letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Amid the thaw in relations, the return of the USS Pueblo can be a giant leap toward the friendly relationship between the U.S. and North Korea. This would allow Pyongyang to improve bilateral relations with the U.S. and boost its image in the international community.

Editorial writer Yook Jeong-su, sooya@donga.com