The presence of the foreign leaders there at the televised announcement ceremony was a setup, and they all knew it now. By standing there in front of the new United Republic of Korea flag, the foreign leaders were tacitly agreeing to all that was being said — including the removal of their military forces. The Chinese representative, Xu, was a minor functionary from the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang — he didn’t grasp what had been said. He was there simply because he was the nearest and least influential Chinese government official who would dare enter Korea.
But the other representatives knew what was happening. In the spirit of peace and in the hope of a cessation of further nuclear exchange, they had been cleverly duped into coming here and giving their blessing to the biggest coup of the young millennium. Vice President Whiting would never have entertained the idea of American peacekeeping forces leaving the Korean peninsula until the United States was sure the new Korean government was established, secure, and safe from internal or external intrigue or attack. Now, by her very presence, she was agreeing to precisely that. So were the Chinese, Japanese, and Russian governments.
In the blink of an eye, the American presence in Korea was over.
There is your proof,” Captain Kong Hwan-li said bitterly as he shut off the short-wave radio. “A propaganda ploy, combined with an aerial attack. Every uneducated pig in the army fell for it. It disgusts me.”
Kong was pacing in front of a small campfire, surrounded by several other Korean People’s Army officers. He had kept his voice low and the group remained silent, fearing that their voices might carry in the stillness of the countryside; the fire was small to avoid attracting attention.
A few moments later a guard escorted another soldier to the campfire. He stepped before Captain Kong and saluted. “Sir, my name is Master Sergeant Kim Yong-ku, noncommissioned officer in charge, Unit Six, Forty-fifth Regiment, Sixth Battalion. I am reporting to you as ordered by my commanding officer, Lieutenant Choi Yeon-sam.”
“Where is the lieutenant?” Kong asked.
“Sir, he was captured, tortured, and left to die by a roving band of deserters on his way to this meeting,” Kim replied. “He was attacked about a kilometer from where our unit is in hiding. Security forces from Unit Six responded to his cries for help, but we were not in time. But before he died, the lieutenant told me about this meeting and how important it was for someone from our unit to attend. He said it was the only way our country had to reconstitute our strategic forces in order to drive the invaders out.”
Captain Kong drew his sidearm and aimed it at the sergeant. “How do we know you are not one of the deserters?” he asked. “How do we know you didn’t torture the information out of Choi and come here to us, hoping to lead the capitalists or their American overlords to us?”
Kim bristled angrily, then stiffened his back almost to attention. “I may not be an officer, sir, but I am a loyal and faithful soldier and servant of the fatherland and of our Beloved Leader,” he said. “I did not flee to China when the deserters and traitors left my unit — I stood at my post and did my solemn duty. When marauders and thieves attacked our unit, I fought them off. When my commander was killed, I avenged his death. If you still believe I am a traitor to the fatherland, I give you permission to end my life. I do not deserve to live if I cannot serve the fatherland or the People’s Army.”
Kong lowered his sidearm. He had noticed that the sergeant still wore his People’s Army uniform. That said a lot, especially now. Anyone in an Army uniform was being shot at on sight. Most important was the news that word of the meeting had managed to reach the commanding officer of Unit Six. The unit’s expertise was vital to Kong’s plans. He holstered his weapon. “We welcome you,” he said. “We will ask you to prove your worth, and if you are really a traitor to the fatherland, may your ancestors curse your name forever. You are now Lieutenant Kim Yong-ku, commanding officer of Unit Six. How many men in your unit?”
“Five, sir,” Kim responded. “Three launch technicians, my maintenance supervisor, and one locomotive engineer.”
“Barely enough to do the job,” Kong said. “But we will do it, no matter how many traitors there are around us.” To the assembled group, he said, “Loyal soldiers of the fatherland, I will not try to minimize our situation — it is very grim. Unit Six represents the last and possibly the only ballistic missile assets still operational in the People’s Army — two Nodong-1 units, two Scud-B units, and one Scud-C unit. I have tried to contact the rest of the command, and you are the only ones who have responded.
“But there is good news, comrades: I have been in contact with our government-in-exile in Beijing,” Captain Kong went on. “Efforts are under way to reconstitute the government as we speak. We have been instructed to use every means at our disposal to transport our weapons as far north as possible, to Chagang Do province. If we are successful, we can expect support from the People’s Liberation Army.” That bit of news led to a round of muted cheers. “We shall be the trailblazers, the first to establish a home for loyal Communist supporters in the fertile Tongno River plains. Our comrades in the People’s Republic of China will help us recapture and hold Chagang Do province. We will make it an autonomous entity within the new Korea. It will be a haven for all those who seek to restore the world socialist dream illegally taken from us.
“As you all know, Chagang Do province was the heart of our nation’s modern weapons development program, including the weapons that are now in our charge,” Kong went on. “It was doubtless a major target for attack or occupation by capitalist forces. Traveling to Chagang Do will not be easy. We cannot rely on the People’s Liberation Army to protect us until we are close to our objective. We must therefore do everything in our power to get as close to Kanggye as possible and hope that our friends the Chinese will intervene if we are intercepted.
“To accomplish this goal, I have received authorization to create a diversion by staging our own attack on designated targets within South Korea. Our presence will certainly become known, so we shall attack the military targets most likely to participate in a search for us. The best way to assure that our attacks will have the greatest chance of success is to coordinate our launches. I have devised a plan, approved by the Ministry of Defense and the Politburo-in-exile, to disperse our forces and proceed to presurveyed launch points. Based on distance to target, we shall compute a launch time and date and proceed with a simultaneous launch. Five missiles reentering from different directions will have a better chance of penetrating any capitalist defenses than one. I have set up the first coordinated launch in three days. The units with reloads will then relocate to a new launch point and launch again.”
Kong handed out sheets with a list of geographic coordinates, elevations, nearby landmarks, surveyor’s distance and bearing coordinates, and celestial data needed to help align the missiles’ gyros. “Here are the planned and alternate launch points I’ve selected for your units,” he explained. “Some may be unfamiliar to you. I have rejected several of our normal launch points because I suspect some are known to the capitalists or have been compromised by deserters. It will be up to you to locate the new launch points. Use your GPS receivers to work yourself down as close as you can to the presurveyed point, locate the landmarks, then crosscheck with the surveyor’s coordinates.
“It will be up to each unit to find a hiding place,” Kong went on. “Do your best to find and secure a good location. On the date listed on your handouts, move to the launch point, do a coarse celestial heading alignment, store it, then stand by. At the time listed, power up, elevate your weapon, do a fine alignment, then launch. Remember to retreat back to your hiding place immediately after launch — do not wait to reload. Even better, try to retreat several miles to the north. Then proceed with reload procedures.