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North Korea's chief negotiator to the ongoing inter-Korean economic cooperation talks shook his head when he was asked about press reports on the possible repatriation of the USS Pueblo. "Return it?" Chu Dong-chan said. "Why would we return such an important thing?"
He made the remarks while dining with South Korean delegates at Pyongyang's Okryu Restaurant, which is widely known for its Pyongyang cold noodles and overlooks the captured U.S. vessel. He stressed again the unlikelihood of the ship going home when the South Korean delegates suggested that returning the Pueblo could deliver some benefits.
During the visit to the North early last month, Lee Hae-chan, the former South Korean prime minister, told the North Korean officials that returning the ship might help Pyongyang improve its ties with Washington. The Pueblo was seized while on an intelligence-gathering mission off North Korea's east coast in 1968.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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