“Yes. It never matches up. I can’t tell you how many totalitarian governments are out there today saying they are not trying to develop nuclear weapons. But then we look at their research sites and what do we see? That they are trying to develop nuclear weapons. So either they are lying or we observed their research site incorrectly. Here’s another typical one. In the former Soviet Union they were saying that everyone was equal in their society. There were no classes or aristocracy like under the Tsar. But what did we observe? We saw that there was a large mass of people that were dirt poor. But there was an elite regime-class that had large apartments, weekend villas, and cars with drivers. So either they are lying that they have no classes, or we just are misunderstanding something when we see their leaders live luxurious lives. We are seeing the same case now in North Korea. Let’s take Nazi Germany. Throughout the 1930’s Hitler was rearming the country and building tanks, planes, and guns. We could see that. And during that time he was telling the world he supported peace and international agreements. Again, either he was lying — which he was — or we misunderstood and mis-saw what we thought looked like rearmament. In all of these cases the totalitarian government said one thing while you could see something else going on.”
“But in all of those cases you were observing the truth and the regime was lying. What cases are there for the other side of the Totalitarian Uncertainty Principle? Meaning what they say is true and what you are observing is false?” Mark said this in a way that showed he was thinking too.
“I’ve got one” Sara said. “In the Soviet Union, they had these massive military parades. Thousands of troops would goose-step through Red Square. Tanks would drive by. Missile launching vehicles would drive through as well. They would all be saluting General Secretary Gorbachev. We observed what looked like a very strong and intimidating military. But then what was Gorby out there saying? He was asking the US for disarmament. He said he wanted to lower military tensions between the two countries. He was basically saying they were militarily weak when asking for disarmament. So we observed that their military was strong, but they were effectively saying that their military was weak. In that case they were telling the truth. We were observing them incorrectly. We looked at those military parades with fear. We incorrectly saw it as strength, whereas they were really just a show, a charade, a fraud. Their conventional military was actually using old technologies.”
“What about that last part of what you said? You said ‘sometimes neither are true.’ What do you mean by that?”
“Well, if both what you observe and what a totalitarian regime is saying is the same, then it usually means that both are lies. You are observing something false and they are telling you lies. The best example of this is at the border between the two Koreas. From the South Korean side you can observe what looks like a town in the North. It looks pretty normal — there are apartment buildings, factories, stores. The North Korean regime is also saying that its people are living happily in that town, as in the rest of the country. So these two match up — they say people live normal lives, and that town across the border looks normal. But actually both are lies.”
Mark and J.D.’s eyebrows rose.
Sara continued, “That town is a fake town. It was built by the regime so that anyone observing in the South would think there was a happy and prosperous town on the other side of the border. Nobody actually lives there. So what they said — that their people are living normal lives — and what we observed — a normal-looking town — were both false. That’s the last part of the Totalitarian Uncertainty Principle.”
For a few moments, silence filled the air. Everyone thought through the discussion. Soon, Mark spoke up again.
“OK. So we know totalitarian governments are basically liars. That’s what this says, right? So what?”
“This gives us a guidepost in dealing with them. In the Western world, this principle generally doesn’t hold. If the economy is going through a recession, you can see the leaders in government acknowledge it and even start criticizing each other for it. What you see matches with what they say because lies cannot live long in a free society. But totalitarian governments don’t work this way. We sometimes assume that what they are saying matches what they are doing. Or worse, we assume that they will do what they say they will do. The Totalitarian Uncertainty Principle can be a tool for dealing with them. Whenever they say something — that they want peace, that they want war, that they don’t want nuclear weapons, or anything else — we have to assume that it will not be consistent with what we see. We have to assume that they are either saying a lie to our ears or they are creating a charade to lie to our eyes. We have to always assume that they are lying about something.”
The room stayed silent for a moment. Then Sara continued.
“It also provides a way for us to see if we live in a totalitarian state, if that were ever to come to be. If for some reason we consistently see that we are observing something in our own society that is the opposite of what we are being told, we can start to wonder if we are living in a control state.”
Everyone in the room shifted awkwardly in their chairs. Sara looked at her watch. It has been a while now she thought. Has Tom radioed in? She decided to walk over to the Command Room and check.
As she walked into the tense room her knees started feeling weak. She walked up to Anderson.
“Did he call in?”
“No.”
“But it has been a while.” She looked at her watch. “He should have been past the beach by now. He should have called in already.”
“With such a high KPA presence, he probably did not want to radio in until he got to a more secure location. Or he got caught right on the beach or those woods behind it.” Anderson looked her right in the eyes when he said that.
Sara felt a chill rush through her back. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to think.
Am I worried about the mission or about Tom?
CHAPTER 27
Jiyeon sat at her desk at the NIS building. After seeing off Tom, she knew she would not be able to sleep. She decided to go back to the office. She could sit next to her phone. Maybe Mr. Park would call with news when the mission was completed. Or maybe he would call Mr. Lee again and Mr. Lee could call her. Either way, it would be easier to sit here than at home she thought. Mr. Lee had strangely left right after seeing off Tom. He did not say where he was going.
She tried to get some real work done. She opened up an email. She read it. She did not understand what she read, so she read it again. Still nothing. Her mind kept floating away, thinking about what was quietly happening a few hundred miles north. Somehow her mind did this while it was reading.
She looked around the office. It was already quite late. The office was almost empty. Except for Mr. Kim, of course. Jiyeon stuck out her head and took a peek at him. He was sitting in his dark office. He was reading a document. His office’s blackness contrasted sharply to the well-lit hallway outside. Jiyeon kept staring.
What is he always reading?
She squinted her eyes to see if she could discern any of the papers on his desk. It was too dark in his office to make anything out.
Suddenly, Mr. Kim mechanically raised his head up. Jiyeon could see that he was looking straight at her. Her heart began to beat faster. His face was expressionless. He held his stare and did not look away. She could hear her heart beat.