In 1968, the seizure of the USS Pueblo by North Korea ignited a tense international standoff at the height of the Vietnam War. Washington insisted the vessel was gathering intelligence in international waters; Pyongyang claimed it had trespassed into their territory. But with U.S. forces already heavily committed in Southeast Asia, the Johnson administration chose not to escalate the confrontation into another full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula.
Inside North Korean captivity, the Pueblo’s 83 crewmen endured nearly a year of grueling imprisonment. Beatings, starvation rations, and forced confessions became part of daily life. Yet even under constant surveillance, they found ways to resist. In staged propaganda photos, the men defiantly flipped their middle fingers—explaining to their captors that it was a “Hawaiian good luck sign.” By the time the truth came out, the embarrassed North Koreans retaliated with renewed brutality.
At last, on December 23, 1968, the crew was marched to the Bridge of No Return in the Demilitarized Zone and sent home—emaciated, exhausted, but unbroken. Their ship, however, never made the journey back. The USS Pueblo remains in Pyongyang to this day, a floating trophy and the only U.S. Navy vessel still held by a foreign power.
USS Pueblo (AGER-2) prior to becoming a spy ship
Built in 1944 as a Banner-class cargo vessel (FP-344/FS-344) for the U.S. Army, the ship began its career far from the front lines. Transferred to the Coast Guard in April 1945, it served primarily as a training vessel, preparing civilians for Army service during the final months of World War II. It remained in that role until it was decommissioned in 1954 and quietly faded into obscurity.
More than a decade later, the vessel was pulled from retirement and given a new purpose. After a thorough overhaul, it reentered service as USS Pueblo (AKL-44), functioning as a light cargo ship. Additional upgrades soon followed, and the ship was reclassified as AGER-2—officially an “environmental research vessel.”
In reality, Pueblo’s scientific mission was little more than a cover. The specialized modifications had transformed the aging cargo ship into a floating intelligence platform. Outfitted with advanced signals-collection equipment, it was tasked with gathering electronic and communications intelligence for the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Beneath the veneer of research, the ship was now a covert tool of the Cold War, operating in the shadows as tensions with North Korea and the Soviet bloc intensified.
USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is deployed to North Korea
By 1967, the USS Pueblo had completed shakedown training and was prepared for its first espionage mission. On January 5, 1968, the ship set sail with the goal of gathering intelligence on both North Korea and the Soviet Navy. Eleven days later, the Pueblo reached the 42nd parallel, ready to patrol the North Korean coastline while staying at least 13 nautical miles away from shore.
On January 23, 1968, North Korea launched an attack on the Pueblo. The spy ship was spotted by a submarine chaser, which issued an ultimatum: surrender or face fire. Although the Pueblo tried to flee, its slower speed made it impossible to evade the threat.
The submarine chaser was soon joined by four torpedo boats, another chaser, and two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 aircraft. Armed with only a few handguns and two M2 Browning machine guns, the Pueblo and her crew were severely outgunned. Despite this, they put up resistance for as long as possible to prevent the North Koreans from boarding.
North Korea captures the USS Pueblo (AGER-2)
When the USS Pueblo arrived near the port city of Wonsan, the crew rushed to destroy as much classified information as they could. But in order to do that, the ship had to slow down, which made it an easy target.
North Korean forces began shooting at the ship with a 57 mm cannon and machine guns, hitting it and killing one crew member, Duane Hodges. Two others were injured in the attack, including U.S. Marine Sgt. Bob Chicca. Eventually, the North Koreans boarded the ship, blindfolded the crew, and tied their hands.
After being taken to shore, the captured sailors were subjected to harsh physical abuse by their captors.
American sailors were held captive for months
During the attack on the USS Pueblo, the crew managed to establish radio contact with US forces in South Korea. Chicca later recounted, “The last conversations we got over the radio were that help was on the way, and it obviously wasn’t. I could not believe that we would be abandoned out there the way we were.”
Despite promises of assistance from a squadron of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs, they never arrived. they never arrived. As a result, the 82 crew members were captured and endured 11 months of torture by their captors. Chicca reflected, “We were an experiment that was deemed, I don’t know whether it would be a failure, but it certainly didn’t work.”
After enduring months of psychological torment, the North Koreans eventually forced a confession from commanding officer Lloyd Bucher. He admitted to intruding on their territorial waters and committing hostile acts, but only under the threat that each crew member would be killed one by one if he refused.
Signing the three A’s document
At the time of the USS Pueblo’s capture, the United States was deeply involved in the Vietnam War. Concerned that tensions with North Korea could escalate, American officials pursued a diplomatic approach to address the crisis. After nearly a year, both nations reached an agreement that allowed for the safe return of the Pueblo’s crew.
On December 23, 1968, US Army Maj. Gilbert Woodward signed a document known as the “three A’s agreement,” drafted by North Korean authorities. This agreement required the United States to acknowledge wrongdoing, apologize, and pledge to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Following this, the crew members were released and returned to the United States, while the Pueblo remained in North Korean possession. Initially displayed in Wonsan and Hŭngnam, the vessel was eventually moved to the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang.
USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is still held captive
When North Korean forces took control of the USS Pueblo, they also captured 10 encryption devices and thousands of highly classified documents—marking one of the most damaging intelligence losses of the Cold War. The trove of secret material offered North Korea and its allies, including the Soviet Union, a rare window into U.S. surveillance techniques and communication codes.
Remarkably, the Pueblo is still listed as an active commissioned vessel by the U.S. Navy, despite being held in enemy territory since 1968. Now docked in Pyongyang, the ship has been transformed into a museum exhibit and a powerful symbol of North Korean propaganda. It undergoes regular maintenance and has even received commemorative paint jobs to coincide with national observances like the anniversary of the Korean War.
In response to North Korea’s ongoing defiance and a renewed U.S. designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in 2017, surviving crew members and the families of deceased sailors filed a lawsuit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. In 2021, a U.S. court awarded them $2.3 billion in damages. Still, collecting on that judgment remains a long shot, as there are no straightforward financial links between the United States and North Korea.