George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 77

< Episode 76 >

Let’s rewind the clock a little, just a few hours will do.

Let’s turn our attention back to North Korea for a moment.

“Behold! The American imperialists!”

Hear our roar! See our will! Witness our ideology! Observe our actions!

“Resolutely retaliate against the American imperialists’ capitalist invasion!”

“Death to the American imperialists! Total war!”

A legion of red ties. Standing in perfect rows, they raised one hand in unison, using glue to attach hand-drawn anti-American posters to signs, holding them high. It was a sight that rivaled a military parade.

Since the majority of the protesters were essentially soldiers, calling them a legion wasn’t far from the truth.

“Now, hear the voice of the people! American imperialist invaders!”

Kim Jong-il watched the scene with satisfaction. The North Korean residents and soldiers mobilized for this protest were hand-picked, hardened by purges to meet Kim Jong-il’s notoriously exacting standards.

“Such things often happen in South Korea as well,” a high-ranking military officer in uniform said to Kim Jong-il, carefully keeping his remarks brief. Kim Jong-il was known to be generous when in a good mood, but a single misspoken word could lead to severe consequences. What he said wasn’t entirely wrong; protests in front of American military bases were a common sight in South Korea.

In fact, this protest wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. Even if the United States recognized that this anti-ROK [Republic of Korea, South Korea] light-water reactor construction protest was orchestrated by the Kim Jong-il regime, it was better to take action than to be helplessly restrained.

It just so happened that the North Korean army was guarding the light-water reactor construction site that day. The plan was to open the gates when the protesters approached, under the pretext of ‘In a country where the people are the masters, the will of the people cannot be stopped!’

“That’s right, our republic is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Has our country’s name ever sounded so proud before?”

So, the plan stemmed from the idea of ‘Let’s do everything we can!’ Therefore, even if the outcome was predictable, they had to resist.

Like in those old American novels, they had no voice, but they had to scream!

“Those who do not resist are bound to fall. Isn’t that right?”

“That is correct, Supreme Leader!”

“Behold! That is the invincible protest that will never be broken or fall. The South Korean bastards can only dream of such a thing!”

Move forward, move forward. There are guns and swords behind you, so move forward.

‘At least if we move forward, we won’t die.’

And a giant flash and mushroom cloud rose in the middle of the light-water reactor.

“Are we dying?”

* * *

There was no one at the light-water reactor construction site that day. The construction workers were all enjoying a long-awaited rest in their dorms because the protests were too disruptive. Due to various delays, the light-water reactor was still in the foundation-laying stage. Therefore, even if an explosion occurred at the construction site, no one would die, and no radiation would leak.

A total of eight figures appeared at the construction site. Pure white dress shirts and cumbersome red ties were hardly suitable for a construction site covered in dirt and dust. Nevertheless, anyone dressed like that likely didn’t approach the construction site with good intentions.

“Hey, what are you doing? Move quickly! If we get caught, it’s all for nothing!”

“Stop rushing me! Accuracy is more important than speed in this kind of work! Got it?”

Speaking awkwardly in a mix of Korean and North Korean dialect, these people were originally from South Korea who had defected to the North in the 70s and 80s. To be precise, they were ‘operatives’ recruited by the CIA and the National Intelligence Service to gather information on the North Korean regime. After using only the North Korean dialect and culture for decades, they were now trying to speak Korean, so their words were mixed up, and the language that came out was a strange hybrid.

They had been working for their country for a short period of 5 years, and a long period of nearly 20 or 30 years, so they desperately wanted to escape this hellish place. When they were told that they would be escaping North Korea after this mission, their eyes lit up, and they accepted very actively.

The man at the forefront was from the CIA’s Korean branch and had overall command of this operation. The man removed the marker at the designated location and began digging with a shovel. He hadn’t even dug a few times before a plain-looking wooden box appeared.

‘I’ve done all sorts of espionage as a CIA agent, but this is my first time doing a 007-like mission.’

It wasn’t Mission Impossible, and he wasn’t Tom Cruise, but here he was. He had handled pistols to the point of boredom, but this was the first time he had touched explosives since he learned about them in textbooks.

However, the bomb in his hand was a rather old-fashioned design, unlike the CIA, which handles all sorts of high-tech technology. Rather, it was so well-known that even people who didn’t know about bombs could recognize it at once.

The name of the bomb was dynamite.

“This is the most common explosive in the area. The usage is very simple, so I believe no one will be unaware of it.”

It wasn’t even manufactured in South Korea or a foreign country, but a genuine product with the North Korean army’s mark and lot number stamped on it. He examined the military dynamite manufactured in the North Korean munitions factory and confirmed that it would have no problem fulfilling its role of ‘blowing everything away!’

You might think it was lucky that he got it in such a short time, but here in North Korea, it wasn’t difficult to exchange foreign goods or the same weight of combat rations or groceries for explosives.

“But isn’t this a bit much?”

There weren’t just one or two boxes of dynamite, but dozens of boxes. Those who had gathered to carry out this mission wondered, ‘Is this much explosive really necessary?’ but they assumed it was an order from above. The people who obtained the dynamite and the people who gathered to carry it out were completely different people, so they couldn’t even find out.

“It seems like it will take quite a while to install.”

“But it has to be today.”

That was because today was the day that the protesters would not just stop at a simple rally but would directly enter the construction site. The North Korean army was in charge of security, so they had been ordered to open the gates when the protesters advanced. Furthermore, unlike the previous days, the protesters were almost entirely made up of ‘soldiers.’

“We must end this today.”

The plan was as follows: Install explosives in the light-water reactor to cause great confusion. Then, the protesters would naturally be thrown into chaos. Then, the United States would just have to seize the opportunity created by the chaos.

“Hurry up and install the dynamite. There’s more than you can imagine.”

Indeed, that was the case. The more they dug, the more boxes of dynamite came out. The original plan was only two boxes. When they dug up and gathered everything, there were almost twenty boxes, two of which contained detonating cords.

“Where are we supposed to install all of this? Even if we install one in each necessary place, we’ll still have five boxes left over?”

‘Did they prepare this much in case it doesn’t explode?’

In fact, ‘that possibility’ was correct.

They prepared it, but they couldn’t expect quality in North Korea. So, they made up for it with quantity. The preparing side reported to the higher-ups, but the timing was off, so the executing side couldn’t receive the message.

‘But the condition is all good for that much?’

It was truly absurd, but what could they do when that was the reality? Even the fact that the quality of these dynamites was miraculously good was, in a way, unfortunate.

“Let’s install it only in the places where it’s needed, and put the rest in the middle. After all, what we have to do is not destroy the light-water reactor construction site, but cause an explosion in the light-water reactor.”

The conclusion was that since the purpose wasn’t destruction anyway, they should just install it so that the explosion would be visible. As soon as the policy was decided, the operatives began to move quickly. There were few people and little time, but there was a lot of dynamite to install.

However, since the purpose was not professional building destruction, but just a showy explosion, the speed was comparable to the ‘Chollima Spirit’ [a North Korean term referring to rapid progress and development] emphasized in North Korea.

“But it wouldn’t be good if there were casualties.”

The timing of the explosion was around the time when the North Korean people’s protesters would rush into the light-water reactor construction site, so if they detonated the dynamite at the construction site with so many people gathered, innocent people would die. In fact, they weren’t innocent, but they wouldn’t be here if they liked it, so they were innocent depending on how you looked at it.

The reason he was worried about excessive firepower was because of the higher-ups’ operational policy to minimize casualties, regardless of innocent people.

“I’ve handled a lot of explosives. It’ll be okay if we disperse it. Besides, the protesters will gather near the side where the heavy equipment is parked anyway, and the heavy equipment is far from the explosion site.”

As the installation was completed quickly, all that remained was the detonating cord to be used for the dynamite explosion. They laid it out to a section beyond the explosion radius and left a mark that only the operatives could recognize.

“But won’t we get caught if we do this?”

“Don’t worry. Would the great United States not have thought of that?”

In fact, the United States was to take charge of the on-site investigation and directly manipulate the site when the bomb exploded. Originally, North Korea was supposed to be in charge of the site, but would the United States just let that happen?

“Alright, everyone get out. Get out! The rest will be detonated by our personnel mixed in with the protesters at the designated location.”

“Are we going to the ‘office’?”

The office was where the Koreans and Americans in charge of the light-water reactor construction were residing, and it was extraterritorial. Even if Kim Il-sung came back to life instead of Kim Jong-il, he couldn’t invade that place.

“Officially, it will be asylum, but in reality, you are returning to your home country. Welcome back.”

The perpetrators left the scene.

“Beat the American imperialists!”

“Stop the capitalist invasion!”

Soon, the candlelight vigil marched and occupied the construction site. Fortunately, as the operative said, almost everyone rushed to the heavy equipment to destroy it.

“Take this, bomb!”

With the operative’s words, the button that called for destruction was activated.

And a giant flash and mushroom cloud bloomed beautifully in the middle of the symbol of peace.

“Mr. President. Give the order to deploy.”

In the US operations control room, video was being streamed live via military satellite. There were several people involved in the operation, but the highlight was Colin Powell, who was directing this operation from beginning to end.

The reason why Colin Powell, who should have been the most opposed to this, approved this operation was because the target of the manipulation was North Korea. The most closed kingdom, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, had a knack for blocking information, but paradoxically, its closed nature showed that, as some sage said, there was always a lower floor at the bottom when it came to international trust.

The United States’ justification was ‘to protect Americans abroad.’ Unless the reality of the explosion was revealed, it would be hard to find a clearer and cleaner justification than this.

“Mr. President?”

Looking at the President because the order to descend was not coming down, the President was on the phone with the most serious expression in the world.

“Just a moment… Secretary of State. From now on, proceed as planned even without my instructions.”

“Understood.”

Colin Powell had a dissatisfied face, but he nodded in agreement. Above all, he was a man who loved post-reporting more than anyone else. This would allow the operation to unfold more organically.

“Good. Deputy Chief of Staff. Are you listening?”

「Mr. President. I proceeded as you said. But are you really sure? 5 years?」

“That’s not like you, Robb.”

「To be honest, I proceeded as you ordered, but I think we should look at it for 20 years. All they can do is buy weapons.」

“Isn’t that enough?”

「Excuse me?」

“At least we can unify the weapon system into one, right? Wow! Amazing. We’ve already taken a step closer to the integrated army! After that, it’s not my area, it’s their responsibility.”

「Then what did you mean by 5 years?」

“That’s so the guy will realize that his ass is on fire, right?”

A sigh of relief was heard through the speaker of the cell phone.

「Could you let me know a little earlier?」

“I’ll do that next time. Oh, they’re just breaking in now.”

「North Korea?」

“What do they call this? Oh, right, Red Alert?”