North Korean Economy Watch

Maybe its going back to the states 😉

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)#Offer_to_repatriate

I wanted to let you know that my book about the Pueblo
crisis of 1968 has just been published by New American Library/Caliber.

It’s titled “Act of War: Lyndon Johnson, North Korea, and the Capture of the
Spy Ship Pueblo.” It got starred reviews from both Library Journal and Booklist,
and mystery writer Michael Connelly called it his favorite book of 2013 in
interviews with the New York Times Book Review, Salon.com, and CBS’s “Face the
Nation.”

Here’s a short description of the book:

In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set sail on a dangerous mission:
to map military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Packed with
advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence
documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked backup by air or sea. Its
crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking ex-submarine officer named Pete
Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors in their teens and 20s.

On a frigid January morning while listening for signals near the port of
Wonsan, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to
escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by communist patrol boats, shelled and
machine-gunned, and forced to surrender. One American was killed and ten wounded,
and Bucher and his young crew were taken prisoner by the world’s most erratic
communist regime. It was one of the worst intelligence debacles in U.S.
history.

Less than 48 hours before the Pueblo’s capture, North Korean commandos had
nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea’s president in Seoul. Together,
the two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint as
both North and South Korea girded for possible war – with 50,000 American
soldiers caught between them. President Lyndon

Johnson rushed U.S. combat ships and aircraft to reinforce

South Korea, while secretly trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis.

“Act of War” tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to
survive merciless torture and horrendous conditions in North Korean prisons.
Based on extensive interviews and thousands of pages of government documents
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the book also reveals new
details of Johnson’s high-risk gambit to prevent war from erupting on the
Korean peninsula while his negotiators

desperately tried to save the sailors from possible execution. A dramatic tale
of human endurance against the backdrop of an international diplomatic poker
game, “Act of War” offers lessons on the perils of covert intelligence
operations as America confronts a host of 21st-century enemies.

“Act of War” is getting terrific reviews from readers around the

country. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Powells.com. You can
get it as a hardcover, Kindle or Nook, or audiobook. (A paperback version will be
out in December.)

People have told me the book reads like a Tom Clancy novel and they appreciated
learning the full story about the Pueblo for the first time. I hope you have a chance
to check out “Act of War” and I’d like to hear what you thought about it. It’d
make a great gift for Father’s Day or for the history buff in your family!

Here’s a link to the book’s page on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Act-War-Lyndon-Johnson-Capture-ebook/dp/B00C5QQI3A

Cheers,

Jack Cheevers

Jack is a former Los Angeles Times reporter. He and his wife, Kathleen Matz,
live in Oakland, California. Visit him at

http://www.JackCheevers.net.