Kyle Mizokami
The United States and North Korea have had several military confrontations since the end of the Korean War, but few were as potentially dangerous as the seizure of the USS Pueblo and her crew. While the incident was eventually resolved peacefully, few knew at the time that President Lyndon Johnson had prepared a range of military options to compel North Korea to release the crew, including air strikes on targets north of the DMZ and a cross-border raid complete with tanks. The incident, designed to provoke the United States, could well have escalated into World War III.
On January 23rd, the 1968 ex-World War II Liberty Ship USS Pueblo was in international waters approximately sixteen miles off North Korea’s eastern coastline. The ship, crewed by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. National Security Agency, was outfitted to spy on North Korea, conducting “naval surveillance and intelligence collection in support of high priority national intelligence objectives,” and to “collect photographic, acoustic, hydrographic, and other intelligence materials.” Despite North Korea’s history of provocations, the ship and her eighty-three man crew were unprepared for the oncoming attack, her .50 caliber machine guns unloaded and unmanned. Her defense lay in resembling a civilian merchant vessel, a cover that did not last long.
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-1960s-america-nearly-went-war-north-korea-22621
