Mi-ja and Yun-bok are sitting in a Seoul cafe drinking coffee.
"Do you get the impression that people here in Seoul think that because of our accents, we're stupid?" asked Mi-ja. "Yes, I do. It's rather disheartening, given how much we yearned to come here. We need to develop a Seoul accent as fast as we can," answered Yun-bok. * * * * * Lieutenant Song's home telephone rang and she answered it. "Yes, Colonel, I will give him the message. I will call you right back." She hung up and called Talvela. "Christian, it is Colonel Chun. He wants to know if we can return to Pyongyang tomorrow morning. He sounds a little stressed. And he specifically stated we are going to the zoo." "Tell him we will be there at 8:00 in the morning. Please call Doctor Lee and ask him to join us." * * * * * Lieutenant Choi Sung-hui had given up all hope long ago. When she first arrived at the prison camp, she was tortured by a sadistic male guard who used a cattle prod, inserting it everywhere he could. Later she witnessed the same guard beat a small girl to death for hiding a few grains of wheat in her pocket. She had been imprisoned because her sister picked up a South Korean leaflet. North Korean authorities imprisoned her immediate family, as well as the generation above and below. Now she had been summoned to the commandant's office for reasons unknown. She was sure she would be shot -- or worse. She was surprised to see a number of other prisoners, all former army officers, along with two current officers. They were all being fed the largest meal she had seen in her entire time in the prison. She did not waste time asking about the situation. She just sat down and started to eat. * * * * * Talvela, Lieutenant Song, and Doctor Lee arrived at the presidential palace promptly at 8:00 AM. Colonel Chun ushered them into a small office, different than the large room in which they had previously met. "I apologize, I have no time for pleasantries. You have no idea how lucky you were before. Kim had told me that I was to arrest and jail you because of the content on your blog. I can only guess that Brobdingnagian's arrival caused him to forget his plan. Later, I spoke with him. He told me that the only reason he did not have me arrest you at first was that he wanted to see this woman you mentioned. He ordered me to travel to all of the prison camps and execute all former army officers held there to prevent them from ever taking part in a revolution. Then he said some bizarre things, most of which I do not remember. The craziest thing was his order for me to kidnap the entire American All-Star Basketball team during its travels to Europe, and bring all of the team members here to Pyongyang for his personal amusement. I believe he is as nutty as his father," Colonel Chun breathlessly exclaimed. "Actually, wouldn't he need two teams to play a game?" deadpanned Talvela as Lieutenant Song glared at him. Colonel Chun ignored his attempt at levity. "And then he ordered me to arrest and execute a long list of officers in a purge, with many of the officers being my friends." "So what did you do with him?" asked Talvela. "Something I did not tell you before because I was not sure who I could trust was that I have some friends in the officer ranks who agree with me that the direction of North Korea must be reversed. We are not many -- only 16 in all -- but we are willing to die to stop the madness here. I called my friends and we arrested him and placed him under house arrest just before I called you," explained Colonel Chun. "You have already started the clock. We have very little time to act," said Talvela. "Here is what you must do today. Your friends will be busy. Two of them will immediately travel to each prison camp. They will order the prison commander to release to them all army officers. If we had time, it would be best if we could verify that all of these officers were not guilty of an actual crime, such as murder, but we have no time for that now. We will have to chance it. You will need to forge papers for your friends to appear as if they are operating on direct orders of Kim. Have your friends inform the camp commanders that the prisoners are being released for a suicide mission against South Korea. Make sure they understand that this is top secret and that any release of information will result in one more prisoner being added to the camps: them. They must not communicate with the commanders of the other camps. Bring all of the officers back here for a meeting. That should give us enough time," said Talvela. "Traveling to the camps, loading the officers onto buses, and returning will require most of the day. What will you do until we are finished?" asked Colonel Chun. "We need to return to Seoul to coordinate some things with South Korea. We will call you as needed. I would like to speak with one of your officer friends now in regards to the announcement you will make tomorrow morning on television," finished Talvela. "By the way, what did you do with Brobdingnagian?" * * * * * All of the released army prisoners had been given a thorough scrubbing. They were all significantly thinner than they had been before and their new uniforms fit poorly. Colonel Chun entered the room. "Please sit down and save your strength. You will need it later." "84 of you were released from the prison camps. There are 16 of us who were lucky not to have been sent there. That makes an even 100. All of us will have the most important day of our lives tomorrow. This is a day about which you will tell your grandchildren -- and maybe they will even pay attention," joked Colonel Chun. A few of the officers smiled, but most of them were still unsure of what they were going to be asked to do. "You will participate in the greatest adventure of all, releasing North Korea from the shackles of the last 100 years. All of you have been assigned important missions. It is possible that the failure of any of you will result in failure of the entire mission. I realize personal initiative is not something we have been trained in, but you must exercise it today. If someone interferes with you, you will do whatever it takes to complete your mission. If you need to tie him up and stuff him into a filing cabinet to keep him quiet, then do so. If you need to shoot him in both shoulders to prevent him from calling an aide, then do so. If you need to shoot him in the head to immediately silence him, then do so. No one will question your motives later. However, I must tell you that many of the senior leadership knows some very important things, for instance, the location of the billions that has been stolen from us. We really need to interrogate these senior officials to plan our future and it is difficult to interrogate a dead man," lectured Colonel Chun. "In ancient times, the 300 Spartans fought to the death while they delayed a massive army. Their exploits are legendary even today. There are 100 of us, so perhaps we will be remembered as the 100 Koreans or even just the 100. But this will only happen if we all do our job. And it will help no one if we fight to the death. To quote the American General George Patton, we need to make the other guy die for his cause. Okay, pay attention, here are your assignments," said Colonel Chun. * * * * * Sergeant Paek Tae-jing was going to be the first one out of the door of the helicopter. Just before it landed, he opened the door and looked out at the sleeping prison camp. Dawn was still a few hours away. After the landing, he jumped out, followed by his squad. They ran as fast as they could to the barracks to which they had been assigned. All of the soldiers quickly and efficiently set up their equipment. Hurry up and wait, that's how the military is. * * * * * Sergeant Kim Soon-tek woke up because he really had to pee. After he did he walked outside for a cigarette. He was so fat that he had to squeeze through the doorway. "Are those South Korean voices?" he asked himself. He was familiar with the different accent because he had confiscated South Korean DVDs from dissidents before he became a camp guard, watching them later. "Are those weapons glinting in the moonlight?" he asked himself again. "Should I sound the alarm or just save myself?" * * * * * "Was that the noise of a jet engine?" wondered Sergeant Paek. He had been ordered to paint the side of the main barracks with his laser and that was what he was doing. To his left and right, his fellow soldiers had set up machine guns to kill the labor camp guards who were not blown to bits. He was a part of the ROK commando team at Camp 22, the largest of the major prison camps in North Korea with an estimated 50,000 prisoners, with the entire archipelago population approaching 200,000. They had flown from South Korea directly to the camps without DPRK radars detecting them. But did Chinese radars detect them? The commandos landed during the night because intelligence had told them that was the best time to catch the majority of the guards asleep in the barracks. They needed to kill as many as possible in the barracks because of the sheer number of them. The DPRK used many guards because of its level of brutality, with the prisoners sometimes revolting against the constant torture. Sergeant Paek's orders were simple: all guards were to be killed as quickly as possible because they would start killing prisoners to eliminate witnesses against them in later war crimes trials. He was stationed at the main barracks, but other ROK troopers were stationed outside guard shacks and other guard buildings. As soon as his bomb exploded, the turkey shoot would commence. Their briefing had explained that camp guards had tortured, raped, murdered, and otherwise abused untold numbers of prisoners, including little children. If nothing was done to stop it, more people would die in one day than on any firebombing raid on Germany or Japan or either of the atomic bomb blasts. "Holy cow!" thought Sergeant Paek. The entire building was leveled in a deafening blast. He was not expecting such an enormous detonation. His friends with the machine guns would not have much to do. * * * * * Talvela and Lieutenant Song had been up all night arranging for the contents of the vehicles in their caravan. As soon as they climbed into the front seat of the truck, with a South Korean soldier at the wheel, they fell asleep, with her leaning against him. The caravan had traveled to a point just beyond the view of the North Korean border guards. An officer banged on the side of their truck to wake them up. "It's 8:30 AM. Wake-up! It is time to go!" he declared. Talvela struggled to wake-up. "Han-na, finally, we're sleeping together," he whispered. She straightened two fingers, slipped them between two of his ribs, and inserted them forcefully, causing him to sit upright because of the sharp pain. "Coffee would be much better," he said. Their truck engine rumbled to life, along with the other engines in their caravan. They started to move forward. * * * * * Sergeant Paek and his fellow soldiers walked through the remnants of the bombed-out barracks. "Wow, all these bodies and body parts lying about as if a giant child had thrown a tantrum while playing with his toy soldiers!" he said. "Look at all these machine guns! They could not have known we were coming, so the weapons must have been stored here in case of a prisoner revolt. It's a good thing we did not underestimate them. They were third-rate soldiers, but with this many machine guns they could have inflicted lots of pain on us," he declared. * * * * * Lieutenant Choi saw the approaching caravan, with vehicles ranging as far as the eye could see. She had been assigned the task of returning to her prison camp, this time as a liberator. There was a score to settle. It really was going to be a beautiful day. The young North Korean reporter standing beside her was already videotaping the approaching caravan. The footage would be aired immediately after the announcement from Colonel Chun. Yes, the revolution would be televised. * * * * * Talvela switched on the small television in the cab. It was tuned to North Korean television. He could see the usual belligerent female announcer being escorted from the stage. Then the camera switched to one covering a much younger woman who started to announce the weather. She started in the northern part of the Korean peninsula, giving the weather for the major North Korean cities. She continued without a hitch down south, giving the weather for Seoul and the major South Korean cities. At 30 seconds before 9:00 AM, she stopped announcing the weather and declared, "It is going to be a beautiful day throughout the entire Korean peninsula!" "Showtime!" exclaimed Talvela. Copyright 2020 Pete Prunskunas - All rights reserved.
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April 2024
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