USS Pueblo Incident

The 1968 seizure of an American spy ship by North Korea

Overview

The USS Pueblo, a Navy signals intelligence ship, was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on January 23, 1968 in waters whose status the two sides defined differently. One sailor was killed and 82 crewmen were held through eleven months of beatings and propaganda before release, which followed a written American apology that Washington immediately repudiated. The ship remains in Pyongyang as a museum, still carried on naval registers as commissioned. The incident curtailed peacetime collection patrols. In propaganda photos the crew discreetly raised middle fingers, explaining it was a Hawaiian good luck sign.