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Bak clearly scorned this offer, but he was too shrewd to reject it outright. He said: ‘Any help would be welcome, but that would hardly be enough.’
‘I must add that such help would be given conditionally.’
‘What conditions?’
‘That North Korea ceases its confrontational incursions into disputed maritime waters.’
‘We do not accept the so-called Northern Limit Line imposed unilaterally—’
‘Nor do we, but that’s not the issue,’ Wu interrupted. ‘We simply think that this is a bad moment for you to make your point by ramming fishing boats.’
‘It was a trawler.’
‘President Chen wants you to defeat the rebellion, but he thinks that provocative actions against South Korea are counter-productive.’
‘The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,’ said Bak, pompously using the full official name of North Korea, ‘will not submit to bullying.’
‘We don’t want you to,’ said Wu. ‘But you should deal with one problem at a time. That way you have a better chance of resolving both.’ He stood up to indicate that the meeting was at an end.
Bak took the hint. ‘I will pass your message on,’ he said. ‘On behalf of our Supreme Leader I thank you for seeing me.’
‘You’re welcome.’
The Koreans filed out of the room. When the door closed, Kai said to Wu: ‘Do you think they’ll have the sense to do as we ask?’
‘Not a chance,’ said Wu.
DEFCON 3
INCREASE IN FORCE READINESS. AIR FORCE ABLE TO MOBILIZE IN 15 MINUTES.
(US ARMED FORCES WERE AT DEFCON 3 ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2001.)
CHAPTER 31
Gus came into the Oval Office with a map in his hand. ‘There’s been an explosion in the Korea Strait,’ he said.
Pauline had visited Korea when she was a congresswoman. The photographs of her trip had endeared her to the forty-five thousand Korean Americans in Chicago. She said: ‘Remind me exactly where the Korea Strait is.’
He came around the desk and put the map in front of her. She breathed in his distinctive aroma, woodsmoke and lavender and musk. She resisted the temptation to touch him.
He was all business. ‘It’s the channel between South Korea and Japan,’ he said, pointing. ‘The explosion was at the western end of the strait, near a large island called Jeju. It’s a holiday resort with beaches, but it also has a medium-size naval base.’
‘Any US troops at the base?’
‘No.’
‘Good.’ When in Korea she had talked to a few of the twenty-eight thousand five hundred American soldiers there, some from her congressional district, and had asked them how they felt about living on the other side of the world. They liked Seoul’s vibrant night life, they said, but Korean girls were shy.
Those young men were her responsibility.
Gus’s pointing finger rested on the map just south of the island. ‘The explosion was not far from the naval base. It was nowhere near as big as an earthquake or a nuclear bomb, but it did register on seismic sensors nearby.’
‘What could have caused it?’
‘It wasn’t a natural phenomenon of any kind. It might have been an ancient unexploded bomb, like a torpedo or a depth charge, but they think it was larger than that. The overwhelming likelihood is that a submarine blew up.’
‘Any intelligence?’
