But Pak Je-San had no intention of doing any such thing: his plan was a good deal more subtle, and should, he hoped, take the Americans and the South Koreans completely by surprise and negate their carefully constructed defensive strategy. Details of the constantly evolving Oplan 5027 have been known within Pyongyang and the country at large for well over a decade. In fact, news statements in the North Korean media frequently refer to it by name.
The mountainous terrain of the Korean Peninsula would largely dictate the way any invasion must be conducted, as was equally obvious to the planners in Washington and Seoul. The advance towards Seoul by ground forces would have to proceed down the Chorwon, Kaesong-Munsan and Kumwa corridors, crossing the Imjin or Han rivers, and the troops would then be facing well-prepared defences, including the South Barrier Fence, manned by South Korean and American troops of the Combined Forces Command.
Standard battle tactics decree that any attack across the DMZ would be preceded by a major artillery barrage, possibly by special forces’ raids against highly specific strategic targets, and even by missile- or artillery projectile-delivered chemical and biological weapons designed to kill or incapacitate the defenders.
The Combined Forces Command perception is that any invasion of South Korea would be conducted in three phases. In the first, the ground forces would smash through the CFC defences and destroy their ability to counter-attack. In the second phase, Seoul itself would be isolated and captured. This would be the prime objective, because nearly half of the population of South Korea lives within forty miles of the nation’s capital. The third phase would be essentially mopping-up exercises, before the occupation of the entire peninsula.
To counter this, Oplan 5027 postulates that substantial numbers of American troops – nearly 700,000 men – and armour would be landed in the south of the peninsula and that these assets, supported by aerial bombardment, should be able to push the DPRK forces back north of the DMZ. Amphibious assaults into North Korea would isolate and surround the enemy, and air power would help destroy their land forces in the narrow passes through which they’d have to travel. The ultimate intention of the Oplan, since its 1998 revision, is to continue the advance north to capture Pyongyang, eliminate the DPRK leadership there, and thus place the whole of the peninsula under South Korean control.
And all that, of course, was also known to Pak Je-San, which was exactly why he’d devised ‘Golden Dawn’.
The flight to Seoul was nothing like as bad as Richter had expected, Aeroflot having come a long way since the last time he’d flown with the airline, but it was still a hell of a long haul from Moscow to Korea.
He had never been comfortable sleeping on an aircraft unless he was absolutely exhausted, and he was far from tired as he boarded the flight. Despite reading distractedly for a couple of hours, and then lying with the seat reclined as far as it would go, sleep still eluded him.
The first thing he did on departing Kimpo International Airport was to switch on his Enigma mobile. Less than thirty seconds after it reported good signal strength, he stepped away from the group of Asian businessmen standing waiting for taxis in front of him to answer it.
‘Richter,’ he announced.
‘You’ve taken your time. I’ve been trying to get hold of you for ages.’
‘I’ve been on an aircraft for the last twelve hours, Simpson. In case you didn’t know, you’re supposed to switch off your mobile while you’re in the air.’
That wasn’t strictly true, but Richter had left his phone turned off deliberately, on the off-chance that he might get some sleep.
‘Things have been developing since you left Moscow,’ Simpson continued regardless, and he then explained Washington’s concern about the DPRK troop movements their satellites had detected north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
‘So what are they doing about it?’ Richter asked.
‘Pretty much as you’d expect,’ Simpson sighed. ‘They’ve asked for an emergency session of the United Nations so that Pyongyang can have a chance to explain exactly what they’re doing.’
‘They’ll insist it’s just an exercise,’ Richter interrupted.
‘They already have. So then Washington broke protocol and contacted the North Koreans direct. They claimed it’s a routine exercise called “Silver Spring”, but nobody believes them. The Americans will continue with the usual diplomacy, but I don’t think they seriously expect anything useful to come of it, so they’re now also looking at military options. Their nearest surface group, the
‘That’s not good news.’
‘No.’ Simpson’s tone was uncharacteristically subdued. ‘We’re not fully in the loop here, but the Intelligence Director thinks the Yanks will probably target North Korean airfields and military bases with their ICBMs, silo- and sub-launched, and inform Pyongyang that they’ve done so, just to try to make them back down. Or, in case they really
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘First, make your number with the NIS, then request them to fly you down to Kunsan as soon as possible.’
‘Which is where, exactly? And what do I do when I get there?’
‘It’s an air base on the west coast of South Korea. Let me know your likely arrival time as soon as you’ve worked it out, so I can coordinate things from here.’
‘What things, exactly?’
‘You’re going back to sea, Richter. The
‘Terrific,’ Richter replied, with a marked lack of enthusiasm.
‘I
As Richter slipped the mobile phone back into his jacket pocket, a smartly dressed Korean approached him somewhat diffidently.
‘Mr Richter?’ he asked, and received a nod.
Looking relieved, the man pulled out a wallet to show an identification badge comprising an eight-pointed gold star inside a blue circle, with the words ‘National Intelligence Service’ inscribed around the lower half of the circle, and what was presumably the same legend in Korean around the top half. On the opposite side of the wallet was a plastic card with the man’s name, photograph and personal details.
The badge meant nothing at all to Richter, who’d never before seen a National Intelligence Service ID. Since nobody, apart from Simpson and presumably now the NIS hierarchy, knew he was due to arrive in Seoul, he guessed the guy was probably genuine. But Richter would never take anything at face value, so before he went anywhere he intended to run a check.
‘The car is over here, sir,’ the man said, leading the way towards a Mercedes saloon.
‘How did you recognize me?’ Richter asked, as he put his two cases in the boot.
‘Your Mr Simpson’ – the name came out more like ‘Thimthon’ – ‘sent us a description and a photograph.’
‘Most considerate of him,’ Richter murmured dryly. ‘Two questions first. Where are we going? And what’s the name of the head of your organization?’
The man smiled as he opened the rear door of the car. ‘To our new headquarters building at Naegok-dong, and that’s where Bae Chang-Su, the Director-General of the NIS, is waiting to meet you.’
‘Good enough,’ Richter said, and climbed into the back seat.
