TEXT OF PURPORTED CONFESSION AND PENTAGON'S REPLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000200220069-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 16, 2004
• Sequence Number: 69
• Publication Date: January 25, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2004/02/09 :CIA-RDP70B00338R000200220069-7
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'Texts of Purported confession and Penta on's Re 1
g pY
Special to The New York Tlmes
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24-Fo1-
!owing are the texts of a state-
ment broadcast in English today
~y the official North Vietnamese
press agency,: which .attributed
it to Comdr. ,>~loyd M. Bucher.of
the United States Navy, and of
the Defense Department's re-
sponse:
Purported Confession
Agencythat is, to detect the and. the distribution of Indus- that this was not written or
areas. along the far east of tries and the deployment of prepared by any American.
the Soviet Union and the armed forces. along the east The major point which
Democratic .People's Repub- coast areas and sailed up to this propaganda utterance
lic of
Ko
.
rea. the point 7.6 miles off Nodo
The U: S. Central ' Intelli- when. the navy patrol crafts
gence Agency promised me of the Korean People's Army
that 'if this task would be `, appeared.
done successfully.. a lot tlf We were on the alert in-
the whole >rrew members of
my ship and . particularly T
myself would be honored.
y
I am Comdr. Lloyd Malk Soon after that, I reinforced
Bucher, captain of the U.S.S. the arms and equipment of But the situation became
Pueblo, belonging to the Pa_ the ship and made detailed more dangerous for us, and
cific Fleet, U.S. Nav who preparations for espionage thus one of my men was
Y~ activities. killed, another heavily
was captured .while carrying Then we disguised my ship ~'~'ounded and. two others
out espionage activities after as one engaged in research Iightly wounded.
intruding deep into the tern- on oceanic electronics and- We had no way out, and
tonal waters of the Demo- left the port of Sasebo, Japan, were captured by the navy
cratic People's Republic of and conducted espionage acts Patrol crafts of the People's
Korea... along the coast of the Demo- Army.
My serial. number is cratic People's Republic pf Having been captured now,
58215401. I was born in Korea via' the general area I say frankly that our act
Pocatello, .Idaho, U.S.A. I am off the'Soviet Maritime Prov- was a crimianl act which fla-
38 years old. ince. We pretended ourselves:; gi?antly violated the armistice
The .crew. of our U.S.S.
Pueblo are 83 in all, including
5 officers besides me, 75 serv-
icemen and 2 civilians.
My ship had been sent to
Sasebo, Japan, to execute as-
signments given by the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency.
On Dec. 2, last, we received It was on Jan. 16, 1968, .
assignments. at the- port of that we entered the coastal
Sasebo from Rear Adm. Frank waters of the Democratic
A. Johnson, U.S: Navy com- People's- Republic of Korea
mander in Japan, to conduct via the Soviet Maritime Prov-
military espionage activities ince.
on the far eastern region of In accordance with the in-
the Soviet Union and then on structions we had received,
the offshore areas and coastal my ship was on the utmost
areas of the Democratic Peo- alert and observed and ascer-
ple's Republic of Korea. tained the depth of water,
My ship had conducted current, water temperature,
espionage activities on a sea basin, salt density and
number. of .occasions for the -water transparency of the
purpose of detecting the ter- .territorial waters of the Dem-,
ritorial waters of the Socialist ocratic People's Republic of
countries. Korea with radar and various
`A Lot o! Dollars' kinds of observatory instru-
ments in a clandestine man-
Through such espionage ner at Chongjin, Wonsan and
activities, my ship detected several other points, and de-
the military installations set tected the radar n
t
k
g
e
wor
ep
y
, sc-
up along the coasts of the commodation .capacities of Special to The New York Tlmes
Socialist countries and sub- the parts, the number of the tributed to Comdr. Lloyd M.
mitted the materials to the incoming and outgoing yes- Bucher by North Korean
U. S. Central Intelligence sels and maneuverability of Communist propagandists is
Agency. the naval vessels of the.Ko- a travesty on the facts. The
Recently, we were given reap People's Ar
another important mission by Furthermore _ _style and wording of the
the U. S. Central Intelligence various milita a on _donument .provide unmistak-
13' ~ ____able gvidence in themselves
to conduct the abseivation
of 'oceanic conditions on the
high seas, electronics, re-
search on electric waves,
magnetic conditions and ex-
ploitaton of oceanic mate-
Mission Began Jan. 16
stantly and tried to escape,
firing at the navy patrol
crafts of the People's Army.
`We Had No Wa
Out'
agreement, and it -was a
sheer act of aggression.
I have no excuse whatso-
ever for my criminal act as
my ship intruded deep into
the territorial waters of the
Democratic People's Republic
of Korea and was captured
by the naval patrol .crafts of
the Korean People's Army
in their self-defense action
while conducting the criminal
espionage activities.
My crime committed by me
and my men is entirely in-
delible.
I and my crew have per-
petrated such a grave crimi-
nal act, but our parents and
wives and children at home
are anxiously waiting for us
to return home in safety.
Therefore, we only hope,
and it is the greatest desire
of myself and all my crew,
that we will be forgiven
leniently by the Government
of the Democratic People's
Penta
on's R
l
attempts to make is that the
Pueblo had violated North
Korean territorial waters and
was in fact violating those
territorial waters when the
North Korean patrol craft.
appeared. This is absolutely
untrue..
The Pueblo reported her
position at that time to be
39 degrees 25 minutes north
and 127 degrees 55 minutes
east. The Pueblo's position.
as determined by the radar
track of the North Koreans,
themselves was 39 degrees.
25 minutes nol'th and 127
degrees 56 minutes east:
These two reported positions
are within a mile of one an-
other, and both show con-
clusively that the Pueblo
was in international water.
The Pueblo .was under
orders from the beginning of
its mission to -stay at least
13 miles from North Korean
territory.. There is no evi-
dence to suggest that these
is much evidence both from
her own radio transmission
and from the information
broadcast-from the .North
Koreans themselves in their
own internal report that the.
orders were obyed.
Typical of this propaganda
sham is the suggestion that.
the Central Intelligence
Agency had promised Com-
mander Bucher and his crew
"a lot of dollars" for their
mission. Commander Bucher
is a naval officer command-
ing anaval ship and perform-
ing anaval mission.. He is
not employed by the Central
Intelligence Agency and has
promisd nothing by the Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency. Nor
were any members of his
crew.
The entire world Iearne~
during the Korean war of the
tactics -and techniques o:
Communist propaganda an<
of North Korean exploitatiol
of ?men it held captive. Thi
Fabrication is but anothe
example. No credence shoul~
be given this contrive
statement.
Approved For Release 2004/02/09 :CIA-RDP70B00338R000200220069-7