Regardless of what has gone on in recent years, North Korea has always acted outside of international norms. Most OBs may not either know or remember this, but fifty years ago this week, NORK Migs shot down a U.S. Navy EC-121 "Warning Star" early warning/radar surveillance plane patrolling in international airspace off the North Korean coast. Thirty-one naval airmen on board were killed. This was near the height of the Vietnam War, so President Richard Nixon decided not to retaliate and risk an escalation of a second Asian conflict. However, after a short suspension he ordered the surveillance flights resumed and there were no further attacks on them.
And that wasn't the first such incident. The previous year in January 1968, while LBJ was still president, North Korean patrol boats and planes had attacked and captured the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering ship that was sailing in international waters off the east coast of North Korea. The ship received no help from U.S. naval forces in the area. Two sailors were killed in the attack and the crew members were taken as hostages for the next 11 months.
Interesting to speculate if we hadn't been involved in Vietnam back in those years, there might have been a much more vigorous response.
And that wasn't the first such incident. The previous year in January 1968, while LBJ was still president, North Korean patrol boats and planes had attacked and captured the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering ship that was sailing in international waters off the east coast of North Korea. The ship received no help from U.S. naval forces in the area. Two sailors were killed in the attack and the crew members were taken as hostages for the next 11 months.
Interesting to speculate if we hadn't been involved in Vietnam back in those years, there might have been a much more vigorous response.
