in two propaganda movies , the crew noticed people giving the finger were not censored . The crew deduced that the North Koreans didn ' t know what the finger meant . In the subsequent propaganda photos of the crew , their middle fingers were firmly extended to the cameraman . When the North Koreans questioned , the crew described it as the Hawaiian good luck sign . The ruse went on unnoticed until October 1968 , when Time magazine explained the mysterious gesture appearing in many photos as one of obscene derisiveness and contempt . PatriotsThis revelation infuriated the North Korean captors , bringing about a period of severe beatings and torture , and the propaganda letters , photos and videos stopped after this . Yet , it would take two more months for the U . S . to offer a perfunctory apology retracted afterwards to ensure the release of 82 crewmen . Diplomatic and morale victory hid the bitter reality that the loss of USS Pueblo was a significant blow to the intelligence services . It is now believed that the Soviets urged the North Koreans to seize the ship so that they can reverse engineer US equipment and codebooks . Damn commies