Brilliant New Light (Chance Lyon military adventure series Book 3)

by Van Torrey

  Bledsoe’s cable to the State Department after this meeting was succinct but factual: “PRC GOVERNMENT WILL NOT SUPPORT, AND WILL OBJECT TO, OUR RETALIATION AGAINST DPRK. ALSO WILL NOT PUBLICLY CONDEMN THE DPRK GOVERNMENT FOR THE BEIJING INCIDENT. END.”

  Two days later Foreign Minister Yang invited Ambassador Bledsoe to tea, which the two men took on the sunny veranda off Yang’s spacious office. Such an invitation was meant to convey a sense of informality as the two men spoke privately.

  Minister Yang broke the ice after a period of small talk. “Mr. Bledsoe, I now have the opportunity to be candid with you, as a trusted colleague. The North Koreans are like unruly children with no self-control. It is important that your government know, privately, our government has made the government of the DPRK aware in the most certain and critical terms our displeasure over the actions of some of their agents in killing President Braxton. He was a very decent man working in the unselfish interests of this volatile region. Please take this letter from the Premier to President Hunter, personally.”

  He continued, “We know little of this new man, General Fhang, except what we are told by some of our Army Commanders who have met him briefly over the years. We also understand the difficult situation your new President faced in having to make some response to President Braxton’s murder. Please know that we feel what she ordered was necessary and appropriate under the circumstances. However, you must also know that we are not in a position to publicly support her in this action. I am sure you are aware that we have our own challenges with the DPRK, some of which are quite subtle, but nonetheless real. The Premier has asked me to ask you to convey to your government, in the most private way possible, that we understand your frustration with the DPRK. He further asks the United States think seriously about consulting with us if there are further actions to be taken against our neighbor which could lead to unintended consequences.”

  Bledsoe was relieved to hear something more conciliatory from the Foreign Minister, and agreed the content of this conversation would be made in person directly to Secretary Randolph and, if possible to President Hunter, herself, as quickly as possible.

  As the sun began to drop low in the not-so-clear skies of Beijing, Minister Yang remarked to Jeremiah Bledsoe, “Now perhaps we can partake of something a bit stronger than green tea.”

  Bledsoe reflected that it was moments like these that were known in international business and diplomacy as “single-malt” moments.

  *

  The cable sent to the State Department by Ambassador Bledsoe after his informal meeting with Minister Yang was simple and to the point. “BASED ON FURTHER CONTACT WITH YANG, REQUEST RETURN TO WASHINGTON FOR FURTHER CONSULTATIONS. END.”

  Two days later Ambassador Jeremiah Bledsoe was on a plane over the Pacific heading to a personal meeting with the Secretary of State.

  *

  When Bledsoe reached the State Department he was met by Alexander Randolph. “Based on the brief telephone conversation we had while you were refueling in Hawaii, I took the liberty of arranging an appointment with President Hunter so you could tell both of us about your meetings with the Chinese and your impressions after the fact. As you know, President Hunter is an intelligence wonk and likes to get intel fresh from those on the ground. In this case, you’re the closest thing we’ve got to the real thing.”

  President Hunter scheduled the meeting for the Oval Office as there was nothing of a national security nature to be discussed, and she didn’t want to over dramatize the meeting by moving it to a more secure venue.

  “Thanks for being here, Ambassador. I know it’s a tough flight, but you’re due for a break anyway. Tell us about the meetings with our Chinese friends - I assume they are still our friends,” Hunter said with a nod towards levity.

  “Thank you, Ms. President. As usual, with the Chinese you get the public version for the rest of the world and in this case we also received the private version, the real version of their reaction. Minister Yang asked me to present this letter from the Premier,” as he handed it across the desk, “to you in person.”

  For the next several minutes Bledsoe went into minute detail about the content of both meetings, sometimes referring to written notes. He wound up with a summation of his informal tea session with Minister Yang, taking great care to emphasize the Chinese had apparently had a meeting with General Fhang’s number two, General Rhee, and berated him in the harshest terms about their rogue agent’s murderous actions on their turf and the potential punitive consequences of any further similar acts of violence against their neighbors.

  President Hunter took a few moments to read the surprisingly short letter from the Chinese Premier and then passed it to both diplomats to share. “It seems like we have a man we can work with, if we are inclined to consult with him regarding anything we are planning for the DPRK. If they continue to show us cooperation and good will with other things, I think we can do that,” concluded Rachel Hunter.

  *

  In the aftermath of the drone strike killing his brother and Ms. Yong, as well as a trusted driver and capable bodyguard, General Fhang raged in anger and frustration at his cowering mistress of many years, Kim So-song, inside their residence at the center of the executive compound in Pyongyang. The diminutive So-song had the unfortunate fate of being one of only a small number of people who were trusted by General Fhang, and with whom he could comfortably confide. His brother had been his only surviving blood relative, making So-song not only the recipient of his infrequent affection but of his angry outbursts during his increasingly darker moments.

  “The more I think I am in control of events here, the more it seems I am not,” he thundered. “I am plagued with willful underlings who are not only incompetent but intent on derailing the Brilliant New Light before it can even begin to reach its potential. For the troubles we have, the moronic Chongs might as well be in charge.”

  “But my General, everyone loves you...me most of all,” So-song whimpered, fearful of his angry outburst as he continued to drink the Russian vodka which he had become so fond of over the years.

  Fhang turned abruptly toward So-song, looking at her - through her - with his dark eyes, bloodshot from lack of sleep and corrupted by drink. Fhang’s shrieking outburst continued to dominate the room. “I had no idea about the fate of Minister Lee’s family! I had no idea he was aggressively suicidal! He and his aide perpetrate this murderous deed which flies directly in the face of my strategy of getting the Americans off our country’s back while we regain enough strength to effectively challenge our so-called brothers to the south and, if necessary, even the Americans. Now I, myself, have come to be falsely blamed for this outrageous act?! TRAITORS and BUNGLERS...all of them!”

  General Fhang paused to compose himself and to take another drink before continuing. “Now I am harshly berated and disrespected by the Chinese for the unlawful behavior of these stupid and selfish traitors. Damn them! China knows, and I know, that without their patronage this country is and will be NOTHING! Without their respect we will be nothing but slaves and lowly vendors to them.”

  Again he paced the room, occasionally looking through a threatening veil of alcohol-induced rage at So-song. “This attack against my brother could only have come from the vengeful Americans...from one of their unseen drones that they use with impunity to spy on our every move and kill our people on a whim. Without retaliation for this blatant attack upon my brother - IN OUR CAPITAL CITY! - North Korea will be a laughing-stock among our Asian brothers who will see us as paper tigers,” he roared drunkenly. “I HAD TO BURY THE REMAINS OF MY BROTHER IN SMALL FRAGMENTS IN A LARGE BOX TO SAVE FACE AMONG THE PEOPLE!”

  General Fhang swayed unsteadily as he made his way menacingly toward So-song. As she cowered tearfully in her chair, Fhang grabbed her by her long dark hair and pulled her toward him so her face was only inches from his. As she watched in terror and recoiled from his alcohol-laden breath, his lips parted showing yellowed, crooked teeth, and he sneered at
her, “They will pay So-song! The Americans will pay dearly for delaying my plans and embarrassing me to the world. YOU WILL SEE! Now leave me. God help you if you betray me as well!”

  CHAPTER 18

  CHANGE OF SCENERY

  “The more things change, the more they are the same.”

  Alphonse Karr (French journalist)

  *

  Colonel Kim Dong-sun for his entire adult life had been nothing more than a soldier in the People’s Army of the DPRK. Born into a peasant family during the reign of the founding senior Chong “The Devine Leader” of North Korea, he had little going for him save exceptional native intelligence and a burning desire to wear the uniform of a soldier, anything that would keep him warmer in the brutally cold Korean winters, and get him out of the rags he was forced to wear as a child of poor rice farmers many miles east of the capital city of Pyongyang.

  As a child helping his family eke out a barely subsistence-level living in the numbing rice paddies, he would often see soldiers riding in trucks along the muddy roads that separated the endless landscape of rice paddies providing nothing but back-breaking work and a meager existence for those who had the strength to farm them day after exhausting day. Being in the People’s army was very hard, he had been told, but at least these soldiers were warm most of the time, Dong-sun thought. The only alternative to hardscrabble farming for many youths over sixteen years of age was the military or slow starvation.

  In spite of the demands of the fields, Dong-sun applied himself at school, earning the respect of his teachers and his peers. In the government-dominated educational system of North Korea, promising students were identified early as potential contributors to an emerging Soviet Communist-style political-social order that prioritized one’s potential benefit to the State above all else. Such promising human resources were not to be wasted in the fields where the only requirements for service were to have a strong back and a willingness to survive the elements and continuous near starvation. Lacking neither, a human life held no value in North Korea and certain death was an unemotional non-event.

  Dong-sun’s application to join the military as a common soldier was coincidental with reports of his superior academic performance by the Chief Administrator of his school. His application was quickly approved. He entered the rudimentary basic training required of all soldiers, which consisted of little else other than harsh physical training and long sessions of political indoctrination extolling the deification of the founding father of North Korea, Chong the Elder. In order to remain a soldier of North Korea, absolute fealty to, reverence for, and unwavering obedience to the dictates of The Divine Leader were required. Deviation from such unquestioned devotion could mean severe punishment with no appeal in the form of being sent to one of the dreaded forced labor camps in the remotest parts of North Korea for the accused and his family as well.

  Dong-sun performed well in his initial training and was quickly selected for training as an officer in the People’s Army primarily on the strength of his academic record. Soon his increased pay made it possible for him to regularly send a modest sum back to his family, his father, mother and younger sister. Even this small amount helped them to rise slightly above the subsistence level of their peers, and allowed his sister to make the coveted change from common field worker to school-girl. In North Korea it was rare for young women from a peasant background to have anything beyond the most basic of elementary education, as their physical labor was required to help the family stay grimly alive. Dong-sun’s sister, Kim So-song, was slowly being fortuitously rescued from ignominy by the noble efforts of her talented brother. Kim’s fortunes in the People’s Army began to rise with the advent of the fledgling nuclear weapons program envisioned by the Chong family dynasty, overseen now by the son of the Divine Leader, who quickly became known as The Compassionate Leader. With the demise of the former Soviet Union, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had suddenly lost their patron and the guiding influence that had been their political and economic foundation since the end of the Korean Conflict. Not only were they now philosophically adrift, much as Cuba, with no other major political entity espousing a Stalinist political philosophy, but they had lost the financial patronage from the Soviets that had been their economic safety net as well. The DPRK was essentially becoming isolated from every country except the People’s Republic of China, with which they shared a long and inhospitable border, the Yalu River.

  As paranoia and fear of imminent collapse swept over the now orphaned country, the Chong leadership embarked on a crash program designed to bring them legitimacy and respect, albeit respect based on fear, that would come with having a nuclear weapons capability. In addition to marshalling what meager internal resources were available to the DPRK for the pursuit of this program, they would need a willing partner; another country willing to share resources and technology toward common ends of legitimacy, grudging respect, and protection from a threatening enemy. The DPRK found such a potential ally in the government of Pakistan, wedged in between a country dominated by fundamentalist warlords to the West, Afghanistan, and an arch-enemy, with whom war was tenuously imminent on a daily basis to the East, India.

  The threat of a nuclear-armed India and the renegade Islamic fundamentalists moving with impunity across the porous border with Afghanistan fueled the paranoia of the leadership of Pakistan to ignore disorganized international opposition to Pakistan developing a nuclear weapons capability. In 1998 Pakistan tested its first nuclear device. If one discounted India based on population and political progress since independence from Great Britain, Pakistan was the first third-world country to obtain admission to the international nuclear club. The genie was now out of the bottle.

  The leadership of the DPRK reasoned if they can do it, and capture the world’s attention in doing so, then why not North Korea? Although Kim Dong-sun was not a nuclear engineer by formal training, he had entrenched himself into the structure of the North Korean military and been promoted by virtue of his basic intelligence and rapidly assimilated political skills.

  Unlike the U.S. military where promotions came with experience, exemplary performance in leadership positions, and meritorious or courageous service within one’s peer group, promotions and postings in the People’s Army of North Korea were primarily based on political acumen and perceived loyalty to those in power in the State. Kim Dong-sun had never seen combat or led men in times of stress or danger, but he had caught the eye of those high up in the power structure of the Army. Kim was becoming known as an intelligent man who could be trusted to serve outside the geographic boundaries of North Korea without defecting or betraying the trust placed in him.

  As Kim Dong-sun was promoted in rank his pay and privileges increased as well. When he progressed to the middle ranks of officers in the People’s Army he was decreasingly under the ever watchful eyes of political officers from the People’s Ministry of Security, North Korea’s version of the secret police. This increased status allowed him to move his widowed mother and sister from the rural area to a small apartment in Pyongyang. In addition, he was able to get his now educated sister a much coveted clerical position in the People’s Army Headquarters. With her relatively well paying job and a regular stipend from Kim, his mother and sister could live in relative comfort in the capital city of Pyongyang.

  After serving faithfully in the People’s Army for several years, Kim was promoted to the rank of Colonel and chosen to command a group of North Korean nuclear technicians and guided missile engineers who were to be dispatched to Pakistan in a DPRK cooperative effort with the Pakistani government. Pakistan needed raw uranium that was available in abundance and at cheap prices from the mines of North Korea for their enrichment centrifuges and, in turn, the DPRK needed the nuclear enrichment technology that the government of Pakistan had purchased at substantial cost, and with the help of unethical stealth from the German Metallurgist, Doctor A.Q. Khan, who was considered the father of the Pakistani nuclear weapons program. Thus a
devilish partnership was born between the two countries.

  Over the years the DPRK and Pakistani partnership, primarily under the direction of Colonel Kim, prospered, producing mutually beneficial results for both of the parties. Pakistan was able to supplement its domestic supply of uranium with ore from the mines of North Korea. The supply was plentiful, the transport by sea freighter was simple and inexpensive, therefore making it preferable to purchase this commodity from their North Korean partners than to invade their native supply, an important resource the Pakistanis wanted to husband for a rainy day. In return, the Koreans gained valuable technical knowledge from the Pakistanis that enabled them to fast track their own nuclear enrichment plant, and were even able to trade for highly enriched uranium itself that they used to create their first crude nuclear bomb which they detonated in a test in 2006.

  Colonel Kim’s efforts pleased the Chong leadership. He was rewarded with more pay and permission to travel freely between the DPRK and Pakistan in the conduct of his work. The link with the Pakistanis was the essential element in the maturation of the DPRK nuclear program, and Colonel Kim was the vital conduit between the two parties. Colonel Kim Dong-sun soon learned that his leadership of the North Korean technical team and diplomatic skill were the glue that held the partnership together. He was granted extraordinary latitude by both partners to ensure its continued success.

  With great freedom of movement and action within Pakistan, and occasionally to other Islamic countries, including one of North Korea’s only other allies, the Islamic Republic of Iran, unimpeded and unquestioned by his possession of a Diplomatic Passport, and untethered by a lack of direct supervision by his army commanders or the People’s Ministry of Security, Colonel Kim was the rarest of North Korea’s international envoys. He could do virtually anything he wanted within well-calculated reason.

  But like all men, Colonel Kim was a victim of human frailty. His wealth of power within the Pakistani strategic military hierarchy and unusual freedom of movement within that country had exposed in him the basest of human flaws, greed.