In the years following the
Korean War, periodic scuffles broke out between North Korea and the United States.
In 1968, tensions between North Korea and the U.S. flared again when North Korean
gunboats captured the USS Pueblo, a U.S. intelligence-gathering sea vessel. On
Jan. 23, the Pueblo was off the North Korean coast when four North Korean patrol
boats surrounded the ship, warning that it had illegally traveled into the North's
waters.  Commander
Lloyd Bucher, the Pueblo's commanding officer, responded that the U.S. vessel
was outside the 12-mile radius North Korea had claimed as its territory. North
Korean soldiers boarded the ship as the Pueblo's crew scrambled to destroy all
classified information and data on board.
The North Koreans accused the
Pueblo's 83-member crew of spying and imprisoned them, marking the first capture
of a U.S. military vessel and crew in over 100 years. The North's government defied
requests to release the prisoners, pledging to do so only if the U.S. admitted
violating its waters and apologized for doing so. In response, President Johnson
activated 15,000 military reservists and deployed more U.S. forces to the area. In
late December 1968, the Pueblo's crew was released, following eleven months of
negotiation between U.S. and North Korean representatives. The U.S., in a written
statement, acknowledged that the Pueblo had intruded upon North Korean waters
and apologized. In his statement, Pueblo commander Lloyd Bucher wrote,
"I will never again be a party to any disgraceful act of aggression of this
type."  The
following day, speaking publicly, he admitted signing the confession solely to
secure his crew's release. President Johnson also denied U.S. responsibility for
the incident.
The 1980s brought fresh concern over the potential buildup
of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. In 1985, North Korea joined
the nearly 20-year-old Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)
but did not complete a monitoring agreement with the International Atomic Energy
Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog group, to inspect and observe the North's nuclear
facility as the treaty proscribes. Officials in the North made their adherence
with IAEA monitors contingent on the removal of all U.S. nuclear weapons from
South Korea. Images courtesy of the U.S. Navy
-- Compiled by Maureen
Hoch for the Online NewsHour
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