USS Pueblo
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Search complete. 9 mentions across 9 episodes found for "USS Pueblo".
Oct 24, 2026
Jack MurphyHOST
I'm Jack and we are here with today's guest, Stephen Wolk.
Jack MurphyHOST
He is the author of Pig Fat Soup, which is a memoir about primarily his time on the USS Pueblo and an incident that has been largely forgotten by American history.
Jack MurphyHOST
I don't think most kids get taught about this in high school.
Jack MurphyHOST
They should.
![[KBS WORLD Radio] News](https://particle.news/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,width=128/https://cdn.particle.pro/url/media/bedbc21f-ec5c-52b0-94f3-5e3726c2a63f/37d19f59b488533499a1447788866a663ed7ab5e4d08b3ff921635b90a7c0c72)
Rosene ParkCORRESPONDENT
According to Voice of America on Friday, the State Department informed the District Court for the District of Columbia on October 14th that it had delivered relevant court documents to the North's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York on August 8th.
Rosene ParkCORRESPONDENT
Pyongyang seized the USS Pueblo intelligence vessel in waters off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula on January 23 of 1968 and released the 82 surviving crew members along with the body of a sailor who died during the ordeal 11 months later.
Rosene ParkCORRESPONDENT
The North, however, did not return the vessel and it's currently displayed along the Botong River in Pyongyang.
Rosene ParkCORRESPONDENT
The crew members were subject to months of abuse and torture in captivity, and many complained of mental distress following their release.
Clint BarrettHOST
So there's that.
Clint BarrettHOST
So January 23rd, North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.
Clint BarrettHOST
So yeah, fuck around and find out, North Korea.
Clint BarrettHOST
January 25th, the Israeli submarine INS Dakar sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing all 69 crew aboard.
Adryana CortezHOST
At the beginning of the 1968 election cycle, the Vietnam War was escalating to a level that few could have imagined.
speaker_17SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
On January 22nd, North Korean sailors boarded and seized the USS Pueblo, an American intelligence ship which was sailing in the Sea of Japan.
speaker_17SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The 83 crewmen were taken to North Korea as prisoners and were accused of sailing their ship in North Korean waters.
speaker_17SOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
The furor in Congress was overwhelming.
Thomas777GUEST
You know, um, like the Vietnamese and like the Cubans and, and like the National Volks Army, so.
Thomas777GUEST
Plus, there's parallels with the USS Pueblo incident, and I'll get into that too and what the implications were that... for that for.
Thomas777GUEST
Because that, that wasn't just a humiliating, uh, incident for America, but it, it came out later as to why the Pueblo was seized, and it was seized at the behest of the Soviet Union.
Thomas777GUEST
And that the North Koreans had always been a, a reliably...
Steve KatesHOST
So he was telling me about this, and again, certain things he said are classified, and I respect that.
Steve KatesHOST
And I said, "Well, you flew that." I go, "Give me an example of a mission." He said, "Well, when the USS Pueblo was overtaken by North Korea," and they still haven't given back the boat, he said, "My mission was to fly out of Kadena in, in Okinawa." And I said, "Oh, okay." And he said, "I had the cameras open." He says, "I got up to flight altitude." I said, "How high?" And he says, "I can't tell you." I think I know, maybe 80,000 feet.
Steve KatesHOST
And here's the point.
Steve KatesHOST
He said in 30 minutes or less, the flight took him over North Korea, dark at night, you know, the Hermit Kingdom as they call it, and he imaged every single area, square inch of North Korea.
Steve KatesHOST
So he was telling me about this, and again, certain things he said are classified, and I respect that.
Steve KatesHOST
And I said, "Well, you flew that." I go, "Give me an example of a mission." He said, "Well, when the USS Pueblo was overtaken by North Korea," and they still haven't given back the boat, he said, "My mission was to fly out of Kadena in, in Okinawa." And I said, "Oh, okay." And he said, "I had the cameras open." He says, "I got up to flight altitude." I said, "How high?" And he says, "I can't tell you." I think I know, maybe 80,000 feet.
Steve KatesHOST
And here's the point.
Steve KatesHOST
He said in 30 minutes or less, the flight took him over North Korea, dark at night, you know, the Hermit Kingdom as they call it, and he imaged every single area, square inch of North Korea.
Hunter HillHOST
Huh.
Kaylan HillHOST
Yeah, so years back, Russia had actually stolen one of our ships in a proxy way with North Korea, and it was called the USS Pueblo.
Kaylan HillHOST
And Nixon, in his presidential campaign, claimed that something like that would have never happened under his watch.
Kaylan HillHOST
So this really seemed like a perfectly gift-wrapped opportunity to not only get even, but one-up Russia in, like, a really big way.