UPDATE 9 (2013-4-11): Here is a satellite image of the Pueblo in its new location:
UPDATE 8 (2013-4-11): Naenara provides basic information on how the Pueblo was moved:
UPDATE 7 (2013-3-18): Koryo Tours has posted a photo of the ship on Instagram. The ship is not part of tourist itineraries just yet, but it is visible from the Mansu Bridge.
UPDATE 6 (2013-3-14): North Korean television has showed the pueblo for the first time since it was moved from its position on the Taedong River. It appears to have been painted Orange. You can see the ship in this video clip:
Here is a Google Earth satellite image showing the approximate location of the USS Pueblo as of 2013-3-14:
UPDATE 5 (2012-12-4): Koryo Tours has also posted video to their Facebook Page of the spot where the Pueblo used to be. You can see the video here.
UPDATE 4 (2012-12-4): Koryo Tours has posted images of the empty dock where the Pueblo Used to be. Here is one:
You can see the other two photos here.
UPDATE 3 (2012-12-4): Thanks to the Wall Street Journal!
UPDATE 2 (2012-12-2): I was wrong. It looks like the Pueblo is being moved to the Fatherland Liberation War Museum/Memorial Hall.
This weekend North Korean television ran footage of a new building being constructed next to the Fatherland Liberation War Memorial. Here is a Google Earth satellite image of the the building construction:
Here is the footage from North Korean television:
A much appreciated reader informs me that at the 1:59 mark in the film an officer says USS Pueblo will be docked here (next to the new building).
UPDATE 1 (2012-11-29): NK News offers more info on the history of the ship.
ORIGINAL POST (2012-11-29): Koryo Tours, who this year published the first interior images of the Ryugyong Hotel, reports another scoop from Pyongyang: The Pueblo has been moved from its dock on the Taedong River in Central Pyongyang. The observation was made sometime between November 19 – 24.
The image below (from the Koryo Tours Facebook Page) is photo-shopped, but it gives an idea of what the space looks like now:
The most recent Google Earth imagery of the site (2012-10-13) shows the Pueblo safely docked in Pyongyang, so the ship was moved sometime after this date.
As the Koryo Tours photo suggests, the ship could have been moved into the Fatherland Liberation War Museum. It is currently under renovation:
The above satellite image (Google Earth) was taken 2012-10-13. You can read about the renovations in KCNA here.
However, I consider the likelihood that the Pueblo has been moved into the museum to be very small for a number of reasons. We will see over the next few months whether the DPRK has new plans for the ship or whether it has just been temporarily moved for maintenance reasons.
The ship has degenerated over the four years I have been visiting it and needs a painting and cleaning. I am sure it will be back by the spring. Perhaps it was taken to the shipyard in Nampo.
Isn’t it a fake? to me it looks photo-shopped.
Read the article.
“The image below (from the Koryo Tours Facebook Page) is photo-shopped, but it gives an idea of what the space looks like now:”
Maybe its going back to the states 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)#Offer_to_repatriate
As a Master Mariner Unlimited, who has been on the Pueblo twice, my opinion is that ship will never sail again under its own power. They may have knocked the rust off her hull and given her a new paint job, but I’m with all my contacts in the North Korean tourism industry and believe she is being moved to the Homeland Liberation Museum.
The Homeland Liberation Museam is currently closed to tourists now too. I’m bringing a big war historian buff in on a tour in May, his dream is to see the Pueblo, hopefully some “gifts” will get us in even if the Pueblo and Homeland Liberation Museum are still closed – they are due to open in July.
http://americaninnorthkorea.com/
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.