“So now what, then? Did I hear a suggestion that we should follow him?”
“It had crossed our mind,” admitted Sheppard.
“With what object in view?” asked Pearson-Jones.
“If not to persuade him to leave voluntarily once he is back in his own familiar surroundings, then, at least to keep in touch with the man. In that way, we may, in time, either be able to give him sanctuary in this country, or perhaps collect other useful information from him about his work.”
“How would you keep in touch?” asked the General. “Since you know the man, do you propose to go to North Korea yourself, Sheppard?”
“No, sir.”
“Who then? Who else do you suggest could just turn up in North Korea, follow Dr. Choi around as he goes about his business in their top secret nuclear research facility and test site, get valuable information from him, and send it back to us? And what had you in mind - a post card, or a telephone call?”
“This obviously needs further thought and planning, General,” said Col. Seb Owen, “but as to who should go, we have two members of 22 Squadron who are fluent Korean speakers. One is a South Korean citizen, and the other a North Korean defector. And I am told that there is already in place in the country a small network of disaffected informers and helpers with whom MI6 is in touch on a regular basis. So anyone we sent would not be operating altogether alone.”
“But they would not know Dr. Choi from Adam, any more than he would know them. And knowing a little of the background to that country and how it operates, I would never be surprised if Choi immediately suspected that your two people were agents of his own dictatorship, sent to keep watch over him. Again, counterproductive.”
“Point taken,” admitted Sheppard.
“It seems to me that none of this has been properly thought through,” said the General, annoyed.
“With respect, sir, we called this meeting so that things could be properly thought through, given that we have so little time to do any planning.”
The General turned to the SAS Commanding Officer.
“How quickly can your chaps move?”
“Immediately.”
“Where are they?”
“In barracks at Hereford.”
“Visas? What about visas – they take up to six months to get hold of, I’m told.”
“They don’t need visas. They both have valid North Korean passports, and papers to get them in and out of China.”
After a moment’s thought, the General said, “Right! Send them over. Get them to Oxford ASAP so that they can at least get a look at Choi before they go, but that doesn’t mean introducing themselves to him outside the Hotel or at Heathrow. They must see but not be seen. We can decide how they should operate once they’re in place over there, and they have assessed the situation. Will communications be any problem?”
“No sir.”
“Good. How soon can you get them to Oxford?”
“Probably two hours.”
“How will you insert them into North Korea?”
“Getting them in is the easy bit, General. Getting them out will be difficult – if not impossible.”
“Do they understand that risk?”
“They will by the time they have been briefed, sir.”
“They will need to make immediate contact with our existing network over there,” said Pearson-Jones, stating the obvious. “Which means I must tell Jack Salisbury, the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Organisation, and I suppose our own Permanent Secretary as well. They can both be trusted not to tell other civil servants or Ministers, although I guess Jack will want to bring ‘C’ into the equation as it’s his people already over there. I’ll leave that to him. This whole operation needs to be treated with the utmost secrecy, so only those who need to know should be told. And nothing in writing – we’ll sweep up the paper work later.”
As the meeting broke up, Pearson-Jones called over a junior officer who was with Colonel Owen.
“You’ve been making a lot of notes,” he said accusingly. “Hand them over.”
“General?”
“Hand them over,” he repeated. “If you haven’t brain enough to remember what’s been going on this evening, then you shouldn’t be where you are. ‘No paper, no leaks’, I always say. These will go through the shredder when I get back to the office.”
4.
THE SAS
Moon Pak and Jang Nam were in the hotel lobby waiting for Choi Shin when he returned, and were anxious to hear about his day.
“Come to my room.” Shin invited them. “I am equally keen to know what further you learnt at Culham. By the way, what time are we having dinner this evening?”
“Nothing formal has been arranged,” replied Pak, as they made their way across the lobby to the lift, “but we are to have an informal farewell lunch tomorrow when we return from Culham, before we leave for the airport.”
“Good. So we have a free evening. I shall need to write notes ready for preparing my report when we return home. Since I was not at Culham today, perhaps you would be good enough to draft the report on that aspect of our visit,” he suggested to Nam.
“Of course,” Nam replied. “I shall also make some notes myself this evening, perhaps after we have had dinner together. It was another most interesting day, don’t you agree, Pak, but I really doubt if we shall learn anything new if we return there tomorrow.”
“I agree,” said Pak. “In fact they more or less told us that there was nothing further they could show us that we had not already seen, but that we were welcome to return if we wished.”
“In that case,” suggested Shin, “Perhaps I could go on my own to catch up on some of the briefing you had during this morning’s tour. I shall then know better how to meld our two reports together.”
“I agree,” said Nam, and Pak nodded.
“You and I” said Nam to Pak, “could have a leisurely tour of this lovely city together, before meeting everybody again for our farewell lunch.”
Again, Pak nodded. He did not like the thought of his charges splitting up once again, but he could not be in two places at once, and he was sure his superiors would realise that if ever it became know that Dr. Choi had twice been out on his own. Three times, actually, although Pak did not know about Shin’s first outing on his own.
“We should tell them of our change of plan,” said Shin. “How can we do that? Is there anyway of contacting Mr. Cooper?”
“He said he would look in this evening, perhaps for a drink in the bar, especially to see if there was anything further we needed, so we can tell him then.”
“Excellent. In that case, I suggest we freshen up a bit, and meet again downstairs in the bar before dinner.”
Lee Cooper was already there, nursing a warm beer.
He was greeted like a long lost friend. He offered them a drink – they chose wine – but insisted that he would not join them for dinner.
“No, this is a free evening for you to do what you like before you return home tomorrow. I simply came to see if there was anything I could do for you.”
“You are most kind,” said Pak. “In fact, we were hoping to see you this evening because we wish to change our plans for tomorrow.”
“In what way?”
“You were not at Culham today, but they suggested there was nothing much new for them to show us tomorrow,” reported Pak. “However, Dr.Choi Shin was not there, so we thought that he could perhaps go alone tomorrow to catch up on what he missed, while we started drafting our report, and if time permits, have a quiet tour of this lovely city.”
“That’s not a problem at all. I will tell Culham that Dr. Choi will be on his own.”
“That’s most kind of you,” said Shin. “In our country, I fear such a last minute change of plans would not be acceptable.”
Cooper immediately realised that he had work to do this evening.
“If you would like,” he suggested, “I could arrange for you to have a car and an
official guide for your tour of Oxford.”
“Kind of you, but no thank you. We are in the centre of Oxford and so can easily walk. There are maps and guide books in the hotel lobby, so we shall be able to get around without any difficulty,” said Nam.
“In that case, if there is nothing further I can do for you this evening, Dr. Choi, I shall get on to my colleagues to tell them that only you will be visiting them at Culham in the morning.”
Cooper took his leave, but did not immediately contact Culham. He got on to Paul Sheppard from Aldermaston instead.
“Your lucky day, tomorrow,” he announced.
“It’s my day off,” replied Sheppard.
“Not any more it isn’t. You’ve got Choi to yourself at Culham tomorrow if you want him. The other two have decided they’ve had enough, but Choi wants to catch up, as he wasn’t there today.”
“Or perhaps he just wants a day with us on his own,” said Sheppard thoughtfully.
“You decide,” said Cooper. “I must tell John Williams at Culham.”
“Tell him I’ll be there,” said Sheppard. “Will you go?”
“Of course. It could be our last chance to persuade the man to stay here.”
“We’ll be lucky!”
“I think you’re right, but we can’t give up yet.”
“I’ll get on to Martin Davis as well, and get him there.”
“By the way,” said Cooper, “Although I wasn’t invited to attend, I gather you guys had a meeting earlier and drew up some sort of contingency plan if the man does decide to go home – as he will.”
“Can’t keep anything secret from you lot, can we.”
“That’s why we’re here.”
***
Kang Soo and Park Yon were both in the SAS Barracks in Hereford when the call came. Like all Special Forces personnel not actually engaged on operations, they were getting bored with the constant training to which they were subjected, although even that was better than doing nothing at all.
It seems this operation could just be a bit different from others they had been involved in recently, in Kandahar and Iraq. This time, they were going ‘home’, and would be operating largely on their own, although they had been told that there was likely to be some limited support already in place, if they could make contact.
They were briefed in the air, on the Special Forces standby helicopter which had been scrambled to take them from Hereford to Oxford.
Without being told, they were acutely away of the special dangers involved in a clandestine operation in such a hostile environment. They knew what their fate was likely to be at the hands of the fanatical dictatorship if they were caught or betrayed.
There was apparently no rush for them to get to North Korea, but an urgent need for them to familiarise themselves with their target who was due to return to Pyongyang later tomorrow. He was one of three visitors, who had been given the VIP treatment by the UK. They were handed photographs of the man they were interested in so that they could recognise him both in Oxford and at Heathrow tomorrow and later in Korea itself, but the pictures were to be handed in as soon as the North Korean delegation had left. To be caught with those in their possession would be certain death.
They felt more exposed in Oxford than they probably would do in Korea, where they would meld more easily into the background, but so far as they could tell their target, Dr. Choi Shin had not spotted them as he strolled with his driver from the car park. If he had, he took no notice.
***
There was a lot going on.
Len Ellis and his team in the camper van at the back of the car park at The Old Bank Hotel, were busy downloading the material from their various ‘taps’ around the hotel, and getting it to people who could transfer it onto a computer.
Another team was doing the same with various recordings made by Cooper and others who had been in conversation with Dr. Choi.
All that material went to a team of translators, analysts and researchers who would pick the meat from the bones, and provide some sort of intelligent background briefing which summarised what had been going on and what was now known about the Korean nuclear scientists and their work.
And it was still going on. The visitors hadn’t returned to North Korea yet, and there would be more material to be dealt with in this way before they did so. But it was essential for everyone in the country who was in any way involved to have a broad picture of what was being said, to assess attitudes, and to get an idea of the sort of information that could be within their grasp if they played their cards right.
Briefing material like this, and a proper analysis of it, was a vital ingredient in the decision making process now beginning. Those involved needed to be able to interpret what had been said by the Korean visitors, so as to be able to make sensible decisions about what they should do next.
In particular, Professor John Williams, Culham’s Director, and Paul Sheppard from Aldermaston, needed to get a feel for how best to deal with Dr. Choi during their final meeting with him. An accurate analysis of all that had been said, inferred and hinted at would help them determine how to deal with the nuclear scientist during his remaining few hours in the UK.
A typed summary would be with them in the morning, as well as being on the desks of others who were directly interested and who could also influence future events.
Choi’s morning visit to Culham proved to be of mutual benefit, both to him and the small UK delegation looking after him. Although nuclear fusion was not his particular field of interest, the science and the mathematics which went into the research being carried out was of great interest. He learnt a lot, and said so.
By the same token, the UK scientists with him learnt a lot about Choi and his work, not least from the questions he asked, which revealed gaps in his knowledge, but also from many of the comments he made. Many of these were no doubt un-guarded because his two colleagues were not with him, but he nevertheless seemed at ease and confident in the company of fellow scientists. International barriers appeared to have fallen away, as often they do when politics are removed from scientific research.
Based on the briefing they had received that morning, summarising all that had been learnt about Choi from this week’s visit and from earlier intelligence reports, Williams and Sheppard had agreed that they would not in any way pressurise Choi during his morning at Culham. They needed him to be totally relaxed, and to be made to feel ‘at home’ within the UK’s nuclear scientific community.
It had also been agreed between them, rather reluctantly it has to be said, that Lee Cooper would drive him back to Oxford on his own: just the two of them in the car, without even an official driver. Choi was now well used to Cooper, who had been the first to greet the Korean delegation on its arrival, and they got on well together, each relaxed in the other’s company.
The drive back to the Hotel for their farewell lunch would probably be the last chance to turn Choi and perhaps persuade him to stay.
Choi sat silent for a while in the passenger seat at the front of the car, deep in thought.
“You know,” he said eventually, “I have so enjoyed my visit here, I feel relaxed for the first time in many years. I have not felt spied upon or under threat, which are things one gets used to feeling in my country; a constant fear of the authorities, and what they might do next.”
He sighed.
“I am almost not looking forward to returning home,” he said.
“Stay, then.”
Cooper could hardly believe what he was hearing.
Choi looked across to Cooper.
“No, no, no, I cannot. I must not. I am sure you understand.”
“Of course I do,” replied Cooper, sympathetically. “But if ever you should change your mind, you only have to get word to us. If ever you feel that the work you are doing really does pose an imminent threat to world peace and a catastrophic nuclear conflict, then we may be able to prevent that if we know what it is your work involves.”
&nbs
p; “If I’m honest, I already do believe that,” replied Choi.
He sat thoughtfully for a moment.
“How would I get word to you? How would it ever be possible for us to keep in touch? If ever I felt strongly enough, how would I manage to get technical information to you? All this seems impossible.”
“Dr. Choi, my friend,” replied Cooper, “if that is what you want, then we shall arrange it.”
“If you can do that, my friend, without in any way endangering your people or mine,” Choi paused for thought. “Then do it.”
“Consider it done,” replied Cooper. “I shall arrange for one of our people to make contact with you after your return. It may be some time after your return, but you will know. And we shall wait until you are ready, if ever you should decide to help us in any way.”
“I shall also be helping my own people if I do, and possibly many millions of others.”
“You must be careful,” insisted Cooper.
“So must your people,” replied Choi. “My country is not a safe place for its own citizens, let alone strangers.”
“We know where you work.”
“My real work is at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, which is about 90km north of Pyongyang. I have an apartment near there. But I work more and more on detachment at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where I also have accommodation, although it is somewhat austere. That is where my research is carried out, with Chinese ‘colleagues’, if I may call them that.”
“We shall find you, wherever you are.”
Choi looked across at Cooper.
“You are so confident,” he said. “Quietly confident – no fuss.”
They were nearing the Hotel in Central Oxford.
“I’ll drop you off at the door, and then find somewhere to park the car,” said Cooper.
“If I may, I’ll come with you, and walk back with you. I shall enjoy my last moments of freedom. Three days of freedom!” he exclaimed. “I did not even feel so relaxed in America.”
He looked across at Lee Cooper.
“You know, I almost feared I would be kidnapped and kept here for questioning.”
“The thought had crossed our mind, if I’m honest, but we do not do that sort of thing in this country, however desperate we may be to get hold of information.”