Just over the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, the North displays a glass trophy case containing the ax used on Aug. 18, 1976, to kill Capt. Arthur Bonifas of Newburgh, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Mark Barrett of Columbia, S.C.
"The North Koreans brag about it," says William Taylor, international security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Memories of the "Panmunjom Ax Murder" - in which U.S. troops clearing trees along the border were attacked by North Korean troops - and dozens of other incidents at the 38th parallel haunt U.S. officials waiting for the outcome of the latest crisis at the DMZ.
The White House is treading a fine line: welcoming North Korea's return of the remains of downed helicopter pilot David Hilemon, while demanding release of co-pilot Bobby Hall.
Hilemon died when the two were shot down last week after their helicopter strayed over the border into North Korea. The North Koreans say they will hold Hall until their investigation is completed.
U.S. impatience grows.
"I think it's just ridiculous, what they're doing," says Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., new chairman of the House International Relations Committee.
"It's inexplicable why North Korea is delaying the return of an innocent person who strayed over the border," he says. "It's been much too long."
Even if Hall is released by Christmas, the helicopter incident raises doubts about a new U.S.-North Korean pact that turns North Korea away from nuclear weapons toward U.S.-backed economic development.
"This is going to make a lot of people on the Hill wonder just what kind of nuclear deal we have," says Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"If they can't handle a very simple, though tragic, thing like this helicopter incident with any openness and decisiveness, how are they going to handle anything as enormously complex as a nuclear power agreement?" Leahy says.
Taylor says diplomats dealing with the current crisis should recall past ones.
Propaganda at the glass case displaying the ax says the incident "represents the people's will to defeat American imperialists," says Taylor.
"Pyongyang has been playing the helicopter incident for all the propaganda value it can get," Taylor says, noting a "pattern" of behavior in which North Koreans "take the South and the U.S. to the brink over major and minor incidents."
What happens in the next few days will be crucial, Taylor says. "If they don't release Hall, look out. The Republicans in Congress and the American public are going to come after (President) Clinton. You can only humiliate Americans for so long."
The issue of North Korea's reliability is now "a question we all have," says Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, just back from a visit to the Koreas.
Murkowski is hoping for the best from Pyongyang: "They worked very hard for (the nuclear pact). I would like to think they'll recognize that if they don't return this person promptly, they risk a reaction from the United States."
