Jiménez had already finished the morning session with Tak Ch’o and was about to leave when Rankin arrived, fresh off the phone with Thera.
“I have a couple of questions for you,” Rankin told the scientist. “If you don’t mind.”
Ch’o nodded and lay back on his bed. Not only was it more comfortable to rest while he talked, but it was also practical, since the cabin was so small.
“You helped a general named Namgung on a project recently,” said Rankin. “He headed the army around Seoul. I wonder if you could tell me about that.”
Ch’o glanced at the interviewer, then back at Rankin.
“General Namgung,” said Ch’o, correcting the American’s mispronunciation. “I have worked under his command several times. He is not simply the head of the army around Seoul but an important man in other respects as well. Very influential with the leader.”
“Was he involved in the production of nuclear weapons?”
“Not directly. As I said the other day,” Ch’o glanced at the interpreter, “my role in the weapons program was extremely limited. My field is primarily dealing with by-products. Waste.”
“You had a way of moving waste so it wouldn’t harm people. In airplanes,” said Rankin. He knew he needed to prompt Ch’o to fill in the details, but he wasn’t sure how to get him to do it.
“The project I was doing with the general involved finding a way to move rods of fuel around the country safely,” said Ch’o. “The rods come from reactors. When the operation is stopped and they are removed, first they must cool, of course. After a period of time they can be moved and stored at a facility such as the one where I was working. From there, they would be taken to Russia or somewhere else for processing. The general was interested in doing so in standard jetliners. This would have presented a grave problem without shielding.”
“Airliners with passengers?”
“No,” said Ch’o. “But there would have been danger to the crews.”
Ch’o wasn’t telling the entire truth. While the general had mentioned safety as a concern, shielding the rods would also make them nearly impossible to detect. That was the general’s real purpose. Namgung had never said that; it was understood.
“These rods were for weapons fuel?” said Jiménez.
“It doesn’t exactly work that way,” said Ch’o. “Plutonium can be used for weapons, but the danger has nothing to do with that fact. The radiation—”
“So were these used?” asked Jiménez.
“No. The rods are still in storage.”
“How do you know?”
“When they are removed from the reactor, they’re very hot. They’re placed in pools of water. It can take considerable time for them to cool off.”
“Weeks?”
“Months. In some cases, years. The rods have been accounted for. The UN, the Chinese, the International Atomic Energy Agency—all of the inspections have certified this.”
Rankin remained skeptical. “Maybe some were hidden.”
“Plutonium is very expensive and difficult to obtain.”
“Would you know of other control rods?” Jiménez asked.
“I might not,” admitted Ch’o.
“So you were making containers that could carry hot plutonium?” said Rankin.
“No, the material would have to be cool.”
“So wait.” It still didn’t make sense to Rankin. “When were you doing this?”
“Six months ago. No, perhaps three or four.”
“You designed these things. Were they built?”
“I don’t know. I gave him the plans.”
“Your containers would have allowed you to transport the material without calling attention to it, wouldn’t they?” said Jiménez. “In secret, on aircraft that weren’t specially modified.”
Ch’o nodded.
“Why would you worry about that in North Korea?” said Rankin.
“It was to protect people,” said Ch’o, “and, maybe, if there were spies. That is what the general said: to keep them away from spies.”
“Yeah,” said Rankin. “That’s one reason.”