Still Dangling

Almost totally overshadowed by events in Viet Nam, talks between U.S. and North Korean negotiators on the fate of Pueblo and her 82 surviving crewmen moved at a glacial pace in Panmunjom last week. The U.S. had little choice but to pursue the painstaking diplomatic route that it has been following since the ferret ship was seized at sea three weeks ago. "I don't know any way of getting them out alive by military action," said a top-echelon State Department official. "You might get them out as corpses."

In sharp contrast to the low-key U.S. approach was North Korea's pugnacity. Speaking in Pyongyang, the capital, Soviet-trained Premier Kim II Sung warned that he was readying his military machine for a full-scale war that "may break out again at any moment." Reinforcing Kim's threat, the Soviet Union ordered a powerful 13-vessel squadron into the Sea of Japan as a counterforce to the strong U.S. task force there. While the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise moved from a point 45 miles off the North Korean coast to about 100 miles in a tension-easing gesture, two smaller U.S. flattops and supporting ships maintained their close-in vigil.

Less Than 1000%. South Korea's President Chung Hee Park was as determined as Kim. Seoul began to augment its regular forces by 15,000, announced it would arm 2,500,000 reservists and veterans. After Pueblo was seized last month, the U.S. began bringing its two divisions in the South up to their full 50,000-man strength, flew in planes to three Korean airbases, and promised to speed delivery of $30 million worth of military equipment designed to combat infiltration from the North. In addition, Lyndon Johnson asked Congress for an immediate military aid appropriation of $100 million --part of a $3 billion foreign aid program sent to Congress last week--to buy materiel for South Korea.

At Panmunjom, five closed meetings have yielded only one tangible gain: North Korea finally supplied the names of the sailor who died and the three who were injured during Pueblo's seizure.* As U.S. officials see it, Pyongyang may keep the U.S. dangling for a while, then demand an admission that Pueblo had violated its territorial waers, and an apology. Appearing on Meet the Press, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara conceded that although Pueblo was under strict orders to remain outside the twelve-mile limit, there was no way for Washington to be completely certain the order was followed during an eight-day period of radio silence maintained by the stubby vessel. Said Rusk: "We cannot be 1000% sure, until we get our officers and crew back and we have a chance to interrogate them and look at the log of the ship." If it then developed that Pueblo had sailed in territorial waters, continued Rusk, "it would not disturb us to let everybody know."

Holding Hands. But there was no retreat from the basic U.S. contention that Pueblo was in international waters when she was first accosted and when she was captured nearly 2 1/2 hours later, and that North Korea, consequently, was guilty of having broken international law. In addition, Rusk pointed out that in 1965 and 1966 three Soviet spy ships had violated the U.S. three-mile limit--twice off Puerto Rico, once off San Pedro, Calif. "We didn't seize those vessels," said Rusk. "We simply required them to depart." As legal support for this "civilized practice among nations," he cited Article 23 of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Because Seoul's prime concern is the infiltration of terrorists from the North, Washington's preoccupation with Pueblo caused friction between the U.S. and South Korea. After a spate of Korean protest demonstrations, editorials and official statements, the U.S. dispatched Troubleshooter Cyrus Vance to Seoul as a special presidential emissary empowered to discuss the "grave threat" from the North. In addition, Johnson went out of his way to laud "this steadfast ally" when he made his request for special military aid to South Korea. By week's end the handholding operation appeared to have been successful, and the U.S. was able to get on with the exasperating task of dealing with the other Korea.

* The dead sailor is Fireman Duane Hodges of Creswell, Ore. It is still not known with certainty how the casualties were suffered, but it has been established that Communist gunboats fired repeatedly across Pueblo's bow as she took evasive action, while eight MIGs buzzed the vessel and 75 more lay in wait at Wonsan to jump any rescuers. During this time, the crew attempted to destroy equipment and papers that might be valuable to the enemy.

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