“Mr. President, I’ve spoken with representatives of the Chinese government,” Martindale went on. “They’re worried about what you intend to do with those warheads. The stockpiles must be enormous — while North Korea’s chemical and biological warfare capability was well documented, we now realize that their nuclear capability was equal to or even greater than what we ever anticipated.”
Still, Kwon said nothing. He stared directly at the camera, hands folded, a slight benign smile on his face, as if waiting for the punch line to a joke.
“President Kwon? Can you hear me, sir?
“Of course, Mr. President,” Kwon responded.
“I ask you, sir — what do you intend to do with the special weapons you have?”
At the Blue House in Seoul, United Republic of Korea, President Kwon sat with his national security advisers, all out of videoconference camera range: Defense Minister Kim Kun-mo, a retired Army general; Prime Minister Lee Kyong-sik; Foreign Affairs Minister Kang No-myong; Director for National Security Planning Lee Ung-pae; and Chief of the General Staff General An Ki-sok. Kwon looked at each of them, searching for some indication of what he should say to the President of the United States. Finally, he said, “Please forgive me, Mr. President. I must confer with my aides,” and put the videoconference call to Washington on hold without waiting for a response.
“So,” he said to his advisers. “The question has been asked, as we feared it would be. Your thoughts, please?”
“Do the Americans deserve an answer?” General Kim asked angrily. “They sound to me as though they are accusing us of some duplicity. How dare they?”
“In case you have forgotten, General, the United States protected South Korea for two generations,” President Kwon retorted. “They spilled the blood of their children on our soil less than ten years after fighting a terrible world war that eventually defeated our Japanese oppressors. They risked nuclear devastation to keep South Korea free and democratic. I think they deserve to know.”
“Sir, it is as you have said in the past: they did this in their own self-interest. The Americans, like the Chinese and Russians in the North, used Korea as a way to intimidate their superpower enemies, not to protect us,” Kim replied. “You know as well as I that Washington would have never agreed to your plan to reunite the peninsula. We were forced to do it on our own because of American intransigence. And now they want to take our hard-won weapons away? I say no!”
President Kwon was accustomed to his defense minister’s strident tone, although it troubled him. He looked around the conference table. “Your opinions, gentlemen?”
“I disagree with Minister Kim, sir,” Foreign Minister Kang said rather nervously. “Retaining those weapons will only harm our relations overseas. We will be seen as a nuclear wild card, like Israel or Iran. That will not be good for our cause.”
“I agree with Minister Kim,” General An said. No surprise there, Kwon thought. Although in this room he was considered an equal in rank and status, An needed Kim’s endorsement to move up the ladder and become the next minister of defense when the general retired, so he usually sided with Kim on policy questions. “We should deal with China and the rest of the world from a position of strength, not weakness. Although I agree that the United States has been a trusted friend and ally to us, they do not have the right to dictate terms to us.”
“I am sorry to put the monkey on your back, sir,” Prime Minister Lee said with a wry smile, “but I disagree with Kim. We should not keep any weapons of mass destruction. I do not think we have anything to fear from China unless we keep those weapons.”
General Kim could sense that the tide was turning away from him, so he said, “I certainly see their point, sir. Maintaining a nuclear weapons deterrent will undoubtedly cast our new nation in a different and disturbing light. But I truly feel it is our best and perhaps our only deterrent to Chinese aggression.
“Consider this, sir: We use those weapons not as devices for mass destruction, but as bargaining chips. We force China to agree to stop harboring Kim Jong-il or supporting his government-in-exile in exchange for removing those weapons. Or we remove the weapons in exchange for a disarming of our border with China — an equal number of troops within three hundred kilometers of the border on both sides. Or both. But we should not even hint that we are willing simply to hand over the weapons to anyone, not even the United States.”
“I think that is a very good tactic to pursue,” Prime Minister Lee said quickly, thankful that an option presented itself that would avoid directly opposing the powerful retired general.
President Kwon thought for a moment, then nodded. “Thank you, gentlemen, for your thoughts. You are all indeed true patriots.” He pushed the HOLD button on his phone and resumed his videoconference call with the President of the United States.
“What is it that concerns you, President Martindale?” Kwon asked when his image reappeared on the videophone screen. “What is it that concerns President Jiang?”
“What concerns us?” The President stared at Kwon in surprise. “President Kwon, it is well known that the People’s Republic of China views the existence of weapons of mass destruction at or even near its borders as a threat to its national security and sovereignty. The United States and the former Republic of Korea have honored China’s concern and have not stationed any nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons on the Korean peninsula for over twenty years. If you keep these confiscated weapons, China will certainly view it as a threat.”
“President Martindale,” Kwon said, “it is incongruous in the extreme to let such a notion concern you.”
“What? Why do you say that?”
“In the light of our recent discoveries, sir, it is apparent that weapons of mass destruction have been placed on Korean soil for many years,” Kwon said. “The world knew about North Korea’s chemical and biological weapons, and now we see that a great many thermonuclear weapons were based here too. Why then should we be concerned if China is upset that we now possess the very weapons that they in all likelihood placed on Korean soil in the first place?”
“The difference is, sir, that North Korea and most certainly China jointly controlled those weapons, and now they don’t,” Martindale said. “I understand what you are saying, Mr. President. But the cold hard fact is that China is upset that you are capturing these weapons and have not declared your intention as to their disposition. China has thankfully stayed out of this incident because they recognized, as did the world, that this was an internal struggle. When the pro-democracy forces won and it was apparent that the former North Korean citizens were being welcomed and integrated into the new United Korea, China was careful not to interfere and cooperated in a timely manner with a complete military troop withdrawal.”
“We have done all that we promised,” Kwon said. “We are one people. Nothing can deny that.”
“President Kwon, I am not sure you understand. If China thinks it a possibility that you might point those nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons at them, they may not be so cooperative,” Martindale warned the Korean president. “In fact, they might get downright upset. They have almost a quarter of a million troops sitting on your northern border right now, and another quarter million within seven days’ march.