Word: puebloed
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Dramatic and dangerous as it was, the seizure of the U.S.S. Pueblo was only the latest and loudest thunderbolt from a long-gathering storm of North Korean belligerence. Under Premier Kim II Sung, a tough, Soviet-trained soldier, the North has become increasingly frustrated by its place in the Communist world and its poor showing visa-vis South Korea. Moved by the desire to bolster his regime internally and win some international notice and prestige -plus his oft-stated desire to distract the U.S. from its role in Viet Nam-Kim has deliberately launched his country on a high-risk...
Last week, just two days before the Pueblo's seizure, North Korea made the most brazen incursion into South Korea to date. From its subversion camps, it dispatched 31 North Korean agents into the South in a meticulously planned attempt to assassinate South Korean President Chung Hee Park. Their orders: make their way into the Blue House residence of the President in Seoul, cut off Park's head and pitch it into the street. The attack marked the first time since the Korean armistice in 1953 that a large number of North Korean terrorists had had the audacity...
Toughness & Arrogance. The plan to kill Park was Premier Kim's own idea, as in all likelihood was the order to seize the Pueblo. A Stalinist who has kept North Korea in a state of permanent purge, Kim has acted In recent years to assert North Korea's independence, slipping out of China's orbit and edging closer to Russia. To show that independence, North Korea became the first Communist country to offer to send troops to North Viet Nam to aid Ho Chi Minh; Ho declined, except for accepting some 50 North Korean pilot instructors...
...Restraints. In pirating the Pueblo, Kim knew that discomfiting the U.S. would also undercut South Kore an President Park-and thought that the risk was worth it. Risks are, of course, a relative matter. A hypermil-itant, fanatical minipower such as North Korea does not feel the restraints that are imposed upon the Soviet Union or the U.S. It has no interest in maintaining the tradition of freedom of the seas for its own minuscule coastal navy, nor does it carry the burden of an atomic arsenal. Past masters of propaganda, the North Koreans can be expected to wring...
Despite North Korea's obvious attempt to win prestige through belligerence, many in the top echelons of U.S. government felt that the hijacking of the Pueblo had an ominous connection with the war in Viet Nam. As the London Economist observed: "The North Koreans are trying to divert American attention from what could be a decisive battle in Viet Nam." That battle, shaping up around the U.S. Marine base of Khe Sanh in South Viet Nam's northwest corner, could be the biggest of the war. The Communists would not only like to distract U.S. attention and resources...