THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 27 JANUARY 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005974247
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: January 27, 1968

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005800080001-5
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The President's Daily Brief
1--)p,PrI.a,27 January 1968
32
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DAILY BRIEF
27 JANUARY 1968 ,
1. North Korea
About 75 percent of North Korean
territory was covered in yesterday's
Black Shield mission, which was carried
out in generally excellent weather. A
quick first look at the pictures in the
field shows the Pueblo in Wonsan Bay
with no apparent damage.
?A total of 54 MIG fighters was
observed at the nearby airfield, ac-
cording to the preliminary field
analysis. The Wonsan surface-to-air
missile site was occupied, as were
numerous antiaircraft artillery sites
in the area. Seven Komar class guided
missile boats were seen at or near the
Wonsan naval base and some of them may
have been armed with missiles. At
least 17 other assorted small combat
vessels were at the base or patrolling
offshore.
There was no sign of salvage oper-
ations in the area where the Pueblo is
thought to have jettisoned some of its
special equipment.
The photographs are expected in
Washington tonight and work on them is
to get underway, immediately.
The North Korean regime, mean-
while, shows no sign of modifying its
adamant stand. In a domestic broad-
cast early today, Pyongyang radio
carried a government statement declar-
ing strong opposition to any debate by
the UN Security Council in response to
the US request. The announcement
stressed that Pyongyang would proclaim
null and void any resolution "rigged
up to cover the US imperialist aggres-
sion."
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2. Philippines
3. Israel
4. Panama
5. Denmark
President Marcos returned last
week from his swing through Southeast
Asia bubbling with enthusiasm over the
prospects of closer ties among the
Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and
Indonesia.[
The Israelis are acting more and
more like permanent residents in Arab
Jerusalem; the remaining Arabs feel
they are being squeezed out. The lat-
est Israeli move is to bulldoze unde-
veloped areas in the city preparatory
to launching their own development
projects there.
The King has asked Hilmar Bauns-
gaard of the neutralist-leaning Radical
Liberal Party to form a new government.
This will not be easy. The two other
non-Socialist parties he would need in
a coalition, while agreeing with Bauns-
gaard on domestic policy, take a dim
view of the Radical Liberal call for
reconsideration of Denmark's NATO mem-
bership.
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6. Chile
President Frei now believes he
will have hard work keeping the Commu-
nists from making important gains in
next year's congressional elections
and even in the 1970 presidential elec-
tions.
The Moscow-line party has found
the legal political game rewarding in
Chile and Frei has reason for concern.
He told visiting Senators Gore, Miller,
and McIntyre earlier this month that
he thinks Chile has become a Communist
testing ground; that the local party
is out to prove for Moscow that elec-
toral action is more effective than
Castro-style revolution.
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Top Secret
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
Top Secrei5oxi
1.6
27. January '1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
27 January 1968
I. NOTES ON THE SITUATION
Hanoi to Release Three US Pilots: Hanoi's
domestic radio service broadcast the announcement
this morning that the North Vietnamese army, "on
the occasion of Tet," had decided to release three
US "aggressor pilots" captured in North Vietnam.
These pilots, the broadcast went on, had "displayed
a repentant attitude" during the period of their
detention.
* * *
More Hanoi Comment on the Pueblo Seizure: The
Hanoi party daily.Nhan Dan, in an editorial broad-
cast internationarTY-611-76 January, condemned as
"a new act of war provocation" the sending of a US
"spy ship" into North Korean territorial waters
and praised the Koreans for "neatly capturing the
whole US gang of spies and their ship." In keeping
with other Hanoi comment on the incident, there
was no effort to tie the seizure of the.Pueblo to
the situation in Vietnam.
* * *
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Hanoi Urges Property Inventory: A late Decem-
ber article in the party journal urged cadre,
workers and government employees to tighten ,prop-
erty management systems and work for more accurate
inventory methods during the current "war environ-
ment." The article said a number of people had
not recognized their respdnsibility in the protec-
tion of government property and declared "waste and
corruption are still widespread."
* * *
Mai Van Bo Gets a Flag: Mai Van Bo's efforts
to obtain from the French Government more of the
prerogatives which go with his claimed status as
head of a diplomatic mission are making some head-
way. Bo is now flying a flag on his official
vehicle and he will soon be given diplomatic plates.
Heretofore, the North Vietnamese delegate general
had been driving around Paris with temporary tourist
license plates.
* * *
Hanoi on Tet Truce: Hanoi propaganda on the
impending Tet truce has continued to contrast the
shortened 36 hour allied ceasefire with the "more
humane" seven day standdown the Liberation Front
has called for. The Communists at the same time
have gone to some length to document alleged US
truce violations during the Christmas and New Year
periods and to imply that the "weakened position"
of the US will bring about additional violations
during Tet.
A 25 January Hanoi broadcast set the tone of
Communist comment. It claimed that the shortening
of the allied truce from 48 to 36 hours was a mani-
festation of the difficult situation and the "sav-
age nature" of the allies, who demonstrated no re-
gard for the South Vietnamese people. The state-,
ment went on to list alleged US violations of past
truces and to underscore the fact that the Libera-
tion Front's seven day standdown was undertaken out
of "deep respect for the people's customs and
habits."
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New French Press Agency Correspondent About to
Leave for Hanoi: The US embassy in Paris reports
that French Press Agency correspondent Jean Le
Mauff will leave Paris on 29 January and arrive in
Hanoi on 2 February to replace the present Agency
correspondent there, Bernard Cabanes. In a conver-
sation with the embassy in early January Le Mauff
gave the impression of being generally pro-American,
anti-Communist and having an open mind on his Viet-
nam assignmentl.
* * *
Hanoi Newspapers Merge: Hanoi has merged the
two local dailies that serve the metropolitan Hanoi-
Haiphong area
The official explanation for the
merger is that the two newspapers (Thu Do, the
local party daily, and Thoi Moi, th=dal govern-
ment paper) served the TiFW FWFdership and that a
single newspaper would enable the party and the
government to "more efficiently realize their ap-
proaches and policies."
The official explanation suggests that the
party may be having difficulty supervising both
these publications and that some news items out of
step with the official party line may have sneaked
through. It is equally possible, however, that the
reason for the merger is that the readership of
these newspapers has diminished because of the ex-
tensive evacuation of the capital area. One news-
paper can probably adequately cover subscription
needs, and will help to take some of the pressure
off local propaganda authorities. It is also pos-
sible that the bombings have in some way affected
the Hanoi publishing business as they have other
Hanoi enterprises.
II. NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Nothing of significance to report.
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