Push North Korea to return the USS Pueblo
Hey, North Korea, wanna trade?
Last week, the United States seized a 17,000-ton coal freighter from North Korea. The ship was suspected of being used to violate trade sanctions imposed on the rogue regime. That prompted U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner to call for the ship to be swapped for the USS Pueblo.
North Korea captured the USS Pueblo, a spy ship, in 1968. One of the crewmen was killed during the incident and 82 others were captured and tortured for nearly a year. The USS Pueblo is docked along the Taedong River in Pyongyang, where it is used as an anti-American propaganda museum.
It’s unacceptable that North Korea has held onto the ship for all this time.
And it’s even worse that it’s being used in a way that promotes hatred of our country.
So Gardner was correct in suggesting that the USS Pueblo’s return should be part of any deal that involves the return of the coal tanker. Hopefully, other leaders, including those in President Donald Trump’s State Department, will join the refrain.
Of course, North Korea has ignored calls for the ship’s return in the past.
However, now that we have one of its boats, the United States may have more leverage than it’s had before.
It’s not that the two ships are of equal value. The equipment used aboard the USS Pueblo has long since been obsolete. A functional modern tanker surely is worth more strictly from a financial standpoint.
However, the USS Pueblo is a powerful symbol and it needs to be returned home.
Ideally, it belongs in the town for which it was named, perhaps on display at Lake Elizabeth or
Lake Pueblo. Here, it could be a tourist attraction for all the right reasons.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the return of the USS Pueblo is all the United States should ask for. If North Korea still has the remains of members of our military killed during the Korean War, we should be asking for those, too. And we should continue our efforts to convince North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program.
However, it’s unlikely that North Korea would chose to disarm itself, particularly if the regime sees nuclear weapons as the key to national security.
The return of a 51-year-old boat is a much easier ask. And if North Korea’s leaders were rational, which isn’t necessarily the case, they would want to make such a trade.
In any case, it doesn’t hurt to make the request.
The worst the North Koreans can do is say “No,” which is what they’ve been doing for more than half a century.
Maybe this time, they’ll have a different answer and we can bring a piece of American history back to where it belongs.
Members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are Megan Schrader, editor of the editorial pages; Lee Ann Colacioppo, editor; Justin Mock, CFO; Bill Reynolds, vice president of circulation and production; Bob Kinney, vice president of information technology; and TJ Hutchinson, systems editor.