Chapter 8
By morning, snow clung to the branches of trees and the ledges of buildings. It accumulated in the crevices of the roofs and statues. No effort had yet been made to clear the wide, empty streets, leaving them as open expanses of white. The sun peeked through the clouds every now and then, glistening off the new fallen snow. Any grime that might have been there was hidden. The whole city seemed clean and pristine.
It all seemed very surreal. From his seat by the window in the van, Alfred could see every detail of the North Korea capital. Giant murals portraying brave North Korean soldiers and patriotic citizens had been painted on almost every corner. There were statues of the North Korean leaders everywhere. Propaganda posters the size of billboards hung from the sides of eerily similar buildings. The streets were wide—much wider than the average street in the States—but oddly, the minivans were among only a few cars on them, even after they'd entered a portion of the city where the streets had been cleared. Once, they passed a line of soldiers marching—yes, marching—through several inches of snow. Practically identical buildings lined the streets, their windows dark.
But by far the most striking was the silence.
The drivers pulled the vans to a stop in front of an unmarked building. When Alfred stepped out, not so much as a birdsong reached his ears. There was no sound of traffic, no human voices. None of the sounds you would typically expect in a capital city. Even the wind was still. It was dead silent, even the scuffle of his shoes on the ground muffled by the surrounding snow.
Mr. Blitzer filmed the scene with a handheld camera as the rest of the delegation unloaded. Once everyone was out, their handlers led them inside.
A variety of officials met them just inside the door, greeting Mr. Richardson and Mr. Nankung amiably in Korean. Everybody shook hands as a couple of translators went to work decoding the greetings for each respective party. Someone tapped Alfred on the shoulder.
There were those dark eyes again.
"Good morning, American," North Korea said, giving a small bow, though he didn't seem too happy about it.
"I have a name, you know," Alfred objected, frowning. "I mean, I know I'm America and all, but you need to loosen up. Stop being so stiff. Just call me Alfred. We have a guy here who's not supposed to know who I am anyway."
That seemed to pique the Korean's interest. "Which one?" he asked, seemingly ignoring Alfred's request to be called by his human name.
He cocked his head toward Mr. Blitzer, who was still filming as the delegations greeted each other.
"Journalist?" North Korea asked again, eyeing the man with intrigue.
Alfred hesitated. He knew all the awful stories about journalists being kidnapped and sent to prisons in North Korea just for reporting there. Mr. Blitzer had been given permission as long as he was with the Richardson delegation, but Alfred wasn't sure how comfortable he was pointing out that he was the journalist.
North spoke again before he could confirm or deny though. "He'll have to go."
That sounded a lot more threatening than it was probably meant to. "Why?" Alfred questioned. "He's not hurting anything. He's just holding a camera."
"He can't stay for the meeting," North insisted. "It's private. Important business. He's got to go." And he promptly turned and got the attention of one of the handlers, spoke to him quickly in Korean, motioning to Mr. Blitzer and his camera, before turning back to America.
"So what's he supposed to do while we're in there then?" Alfred wasn't worried about Mr. Blitzer getting bored, so much. More he was worried that the Koreans might try and do something to him while they weren't looking, like take him off somewhere and interrogate him.
"He'll wait out here with Kang Dae," was North's answer, tilting his head in the direction of the handler he'd just spoken to. Great, the bigger, body guard-looking handler. He didn't feel comfortable leaving poor Mr. Blitzer out here with him alone.
"No," Alfred answered flatly. "No, I'm not letting him stay out here alone with you Koreans." Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to say. North looked offended.
"So pick someone to stay out here with him then," North suggested, voice tense.
"I'll stay."
"No. You and I need to talk. Alone."
Geez, what was it with North and this 'alone' stuff? Suddenly Alfred had a horrible thought that maybe he was trying to separate the members of the delegation and pick them off one by one! But that sounded like something out of a horror movie. Despite how North Korea was easily the creepiest country he'd been to, Alfred didn't think that could be right. The Koreans were just overly paranoid.
"Hold that thought," he replied tersely before turning on his heel and stalking off to find Mr. Richardson, the one person who might have some power over this situation. He could feel North's eyes burning into the back of his head.
He hated to interrupt, but in a brief pause in his conversation with one of the North Korean officials, Alfred caught Mr. Richardson's attention and pulled him aside a few steps. "They want Mr. Blitzer to stay out here all alone with the big guard," Alfred complained, almost feeling like a small child tattling on a bully.
"I know," Mr. Richardson replied, acting like there was no problem with this at all. "That is what we agreed upon."
"What?" Alfred was almost shocked that this was being allowed. "No one else is staying out here with him? You're not afraid the Koreans will drag him off and do something to him while we're gone?"
"They won't," Mr. Richardson insisted. "It'll be fine, Alfred."
"How do you know?"
"They have bigger things to worry about right now. They won't do something that would cause another international crisis while in the midst of trying to solve one."
Alfred remained defiantly silent, unsure whether he was willing to accept that answer.
"He'll be fine, Alfred. Just relax. We're about to start."
Unsatisfied, Alfred turned around to go back to North, only to find the Korean right behind him, not quite smiling but looking triumphant nonetheless. "Are you ready, American?"
"Alfred," the American huffed, sweeping past the Korean towards the room he presumed they'd be meeting in—but North reached out and snagged his coat before he could get more than a few steps.
"I told you—we're meeting separately," North scolded, tugging Alfred back towards him.
The American met his gaze with a pout. "Fine! Fine! Lead the way then."
Releasing his grip on the American's coat, he turned—towards the door—and motioned for Alfred to follow him.
Alfred looked at him in near horror. No way was he going outside! It was freezing! And what reason would they have to go outside? This building was huge. There was no way there wasn't 'room' for them somewhere in here.
He stumbled a few steps to catch up, just as the Korean opened the door, letting in a cold draft and causing Alfred to flinch. "Hey, wait! What are you doing? Why are we going outside?"
North glanced at the American over his shoulder. "Too cold for you?" he sneered, moving to hold the door wide open for Alfred. "Don't be a baby. Come on."
And of course, as soon as he put it that way, Alfred was grudgingly following along.
A few steps from the building, he asked again, "You didn't answer my question. Why are we going outside?"
"Because this is nation business," North responded after they were sufficiently out of earshot of the building. Suddenly it occurred to Alfred that that might be the sole reason they were outside—less chance of being overheard. "None of them need to know what we're talking about yet. I'm sure we'll be more productive on our own anyway."
"You?" Alfred asked skeptically. "You want to be productive? Or are you just saying that?"
"I want to be productive," North affirmed, leading them towards an area where the sidewalk had not yet been cleared. Geez! Was he just trying to make Alfred miserable by leading him out in the cold and then to an area where they would have to tromp through snow and slush? Maybe he was actually serious about being productive and this was his way of making up for it—making things difficult for the American in another way instead. Alfred followed along in silence for what seemed like much too long, treading carefully to avoid getting his shoes full of water.
After a few blocks, North turned and began to walk out into the middle of the street—one of the super wide, super empty North Korean highways, still full of snow. Perplexed, Alfred spoke up. "Where are you taking us? Why are we crossing the street?"
North ignored the question, instead just looking back to give Alfred an annoyed look. With no other option, Alfred simply had to follow.
When they were about halfway across, North stopped. "Here. Now we can talk freely. No one will hear us out here."
So Alfred had been right. The point of the trip had been to get them out of earshot. The highway was the perfect place to talk. It was at least as wide as a football field, about fifty yards of empty space on either side of the two nations. It was completely empty, not a single car or even a pedestrian. And there seemed to be little chance of it being cleared any time soon, no workers' crews visible.
"So…what then?" Alfred asked again. "You want to talk about something, obviously. What is it? Did you think about what I said last night?"
"I did."
Alfred was honestly surprised. "…And?"
North spared a quick glance around them to confirm that they were still alone. "I was the one who asked for the Americans."
"Really?" Alfred was surprised. After all that thinking he'd done, he assumed North was just following orders and didn't care how any of this went. But there was still the question of why North would ask for the Americans. What was his motive? "Why?"
The Korean hesitated, instead tapping the American's arm and motioning for him to follow once more. This time, he headed straight down the middle of the highway.
"What now?" Alfred was growing frustrated with all this moving. "Answer my question!"
"Just come on!" North snapped, turning back around to glare at him. "I don't like…standing. Let's walk."
Alfred stomped forward a few steps to catch up with him. "Then tell me why you asked for me!"
Before Alfred had quite reached him, North whirled around, scowling at him fiercely. "Let us get something straight, first. I don't like you. I didn't ask for you to come. I spoke with my leader and he agreed to request a group of Americans. You weren't in the plans."
A chill wind blew between them for a moment, lifting a few powdery flakes from the top layer of snow on the road and carrying them across the snowy expanse before them. Alfred stared back at North, surprised by the outburst.
North continued, "Frankly I am surprised you even cared enough to come."
The sunlight faded as a cloud drifted in front of the sun. North turned back around and started to walk again. Alfred followed a moment later. He wasn't really surprised by the other's words so much as he was curious about them.
"Last night," Alfred began slowly, his voice softening as he followed along a few steps behind North. "You said I was here, and that was all that mattered. What did you mean by that if you didn't want me here anyway?"
North walked along in silence for a long time. For a moment, Alfred thought maybe he hadn't heard him over the slowly increasing wind, but finally, he responded. "When I saw you had been added to the delegation list, I thought there might be a chance that you cared what I have to say, and that was the reason you were coming."
"I do care what you have to say," Alfred replied, speeding up a little so that he could fall in step beside the other.
"Don't lie," the Korean glowered at him.
"I'm not!" Alfred promised, pulling his hands out of his pockets for a moment to hold them up in mock surrender. North gave a snort of amusement, like the whole idea that Alfred might actually care was laughable to him. "Why would I lie about that?" Alfred asked.
"You just want me to cooperate for your benefit," North answered. The chill wind blew again, kicking up another gust of powdery snow from the covered street. "You know. So you can tell the world you saved the day from the evil communist nation. What a hero!" He rolled his eyes, disgusted by his own sarcasm. "Like you did with my brother. Like you tried to do with Vietnam."
"No," Alfred objected, offended. "I want you to cooperate for your benefit! I really do! I want to help you. I don't want you and South to go to war. I don't want anyone to go to war."
"Coming from you, that's almost insulting. I'd say you start a war in just about every country you try to 'help'."
Ouch. That one really did hit home. Latin American countries upset with his interference. Middle Eastern countries upset with his occupations.
And of course, Korea. A country that had been one, but was no longer.
He sped up a little and took a few steps out in front of North before turning around and stopping, placing a hand on the other's shoulder. The Korean stopped and looked at him questioningly, eyes still burning with fury.
"I really do want to help," he pleaded, giving North's shoulder a light squeeze. "Can't we try and be friends? Just for this week? Then you can go back to hating me if you want, I guess. But I really do want to help you." He searched the other's face for some sign of understanding, but the increasing wind was whipping his dark hair around his face, making it difficult to tell. "I want everyone to be happy. That includes you."
There was a pause, and for a moment, Alfred really did think North was going to listen. But it was a naïve thought—for just a moment later, the Korean shoved his hand off his shoulder with an angry jerk of his arm.
"If you really wanted to help," he hissed, "you would have followed through with your promises from years ago. You remember the Agreed Framework, don't you? Or have you forgotten already? 'Shut down your nuclear reactors and I'll help you out!' you said. Except you never did."
"That's because you never shut them down!"
"I wasn't going to do anything until I was sure you weren't going to leave me wide open for invasion by South!"
"So you're just going to reject help now when it's offered to you?"
"If the past is any indication, I don't trust you to actually help."
The disappointment was apparent on Alfred's face. "So you've already made up your mind then. If you don't want to trust me, obviously you're never going to. And nothing will ever get better."
North's silence was indication enough—that was exactly the problem.
"Look, it's like I said last night," Alfred continued, watching the other for some sign that his words were getting through to him. "This is a two-way street. I can't just…do it all for you. You have to be willing to listen and compromise just the same as I do. If you're planning from the start to not listen and not budge at all, then nothing is going to get done. You're always gonna be sitting here on your side of the border all cold and lonely because everybody's gonna know that they can't get through to you. If you want me to hear what you have to say, then say it, and I'll try to understand and I'll try to help you. But only if you listen to what I have to say and try to understand my side of it too. Will you please just give me a chance?"
North dipped his gaze away, apparently unwilling to meet Alfred's eyes.
"Here, uh, how about this?" Alfred took the other's hand (which immediately brought the Korean's gaze up to meet Alfred's in surprise) and shook it eagerly. "Let's start over. Hey there, I'm Alfred F. Jones, the United States of America, and I stand for the safety and happiness of all people everywhere." He released the other's hand. "Now it's your turn." He smiled encouragingly.
The Korean hesitated, though he no longer looked upset. Just very confused and maybe a little…wary? The uncertainty showed on his face, like he was trying to decide whether or not to give America his trust.
Finally, he reached for Alfred's hand again and shook it firmly, like he had when Alfred had arrived last night, only this time, it was much more deliberate, like he actually wanted to do it. "Annyeonghaseyo. My name is Im Sang Kyu. North Korea." It was short. Brief. But at least he sounded less hostile this time, like he meant it.
Just as Alfred was about to speak again, another strong gust of wind hit them, blowing with it the pins and needles of new snow, falling fresh from the sky. Alfred braced himself against the wind as another gust blew into them, whistling and biting against his ears, his hand still warmly grasping North's.
"Later," North's voice rose over the wind. "Let's go inside."
Reluctantly, Alfred let the other's fingers slip from his, and followed him towards shelter.
Notes:
The Agreed Framework refers to a series of agreements made between North Korea and the United States in late 1994, when the US became worried over North Korea's apparent intention to develop nuclear weapons. The Agreed Framework was signed in October of that year, saying that the DPRK would shut down its indigenous nuclear power plants in exchange for more nuclear proliferation resistant light water reactors and normalized relations with the West. The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) was put in place to help carry out the agreements, but failures by both sides to carry out their part of the agreement led to the collapse of the Agreed Framework by 2002, when the United States convinced KEDO to cease oil shipments to North Korea. KEDO officially terminated the project in 2006.