Panmunjom; Rear-Admiral Smith; General Pak; other delegates.




Initials PW/V/JH/SC



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Background: North Korea yesterday charged that the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo had invaded its territorial waters last month and had been captured by North Korean patrol vessels in "self-defence".

The charge was made at a meeting of the Armistice Commission at Panmunjom in the De-militarised Zone of Korea, by North Korean senior delegate Major-General Chung-Kuk Pak. But he made no mention of the Pueblo's crew of their return.

General Pak claimed that the Pueblo was deliberately sent into North Korean waters during a series of "systematic violations" of the Korean armistice, and added that the U.S. intented to provoke a new war in Korea.

General Pak made his charge at the end of a three-hour meeting. The senior U.S. delegate, Rear-Admiral John V. Smith, had no chance to answer the charge before the meeting was ended.

Previously, Admiral Smith had accused North Korea of sending armed commandos into South Korea last month in an attempt to assassinate South Korean President Chung-Hee Park.

While the Armistice Commission meeting was going on yesterday, President Park was in conference with President Johnson's special envoy, Mr. Cyrus Vance, to consider what action should be taken in the face of this and other alleged truce violations by the North Koreans.