Too bad Truman didn’t let MacArthur defeat the north
We should have issued a 24-hour ultimatum that, unless the DPRK had our ship, with our crew, and all contents of the ship, back, free, in international waters -- we would scuttle our own ship right where it was -- in the middle of Pyongyang, with our largest thermonuclear device.
Probability is .99 that the NORKS would have complied. Otherwise, we should have allowed another 24 hours to evacuate the Pyongyang populace -- then we should have annihilated the city.
One thing, for sure: if we had acted so then, we would not face todays threats -- from anyone.
Oh -- our crew? The Norks understand full well that their military service members have already sworn to give their lives in defense of their nation -- and, so have ours. But our ultimatum should have been clear that they had no option other than good treatment and release of our crew. In the 1% case -- America would still be honoring those fellow Americans as heroic martyrs to the principle that No entity can survive attacking any portion of the USA or any part of its citizenry.