Since the conclusion of the uneasy armistice that halted the Korean War in 1953,security on the Korean Peninsula has remained unsettled. This has negativelyimpacted regional security dynamics, too. A major problem has been North Koreanmilitary provocations. South Korean and U.S. responses to such maneuvers havefurther contributed to regional instability. Using the case of the 1968 Pueblo Incident,the paper examines the context of military provocation and reaction with the focuson a suspected gender-bias in regional security affairs. The paper investigatesPyongyang’s motivation for initiating a crisis and Washington’s and Seoul’sresponses to the provocation and applies a branch of International Relations Theory,Gender Studies, as its analytical framework. The conclusion is that all actorsinvolved in the 1968 Pueblo Incident, especially North Korea’s leadership, initiatedor preferred actions that were heavily gender-biased. Demonstrations of strength,independence, and victory were seen as the only ones appropriate, while alternativepolicies were seen as weak and defeatist. In 1968, conflict and conflict resolutioncan be properly explained as heavily gender-biased, which sheds new light on ourunderstanding of North Korea’s motivation for the provocation, and South Koreanand American responses.