Fate (#2): Kissinger and the EC-121 Incident

Following the recent death of Henry Kissinger, NK News has a timely piece on the controversial American diplomat's reaction to the 1969 EC-121 incident, one of his first major tests in his role as Nixon's NSA.

It reminded me that Kissinger makes a cameo discussing that very incident in the novel Fate, a relatively recent addition to the Imperishable History series published in 2012. This is the same novel that featured KIS' interaction with Che Guevara, which I previously covered on this blog. 

The scene opens with a favorite trope: the US president being awoken early in the morning (6:57 AM, to be exact) with news of a crisis brought on by North Korea. The same author had previously used this same device in Ryŏksa ŭi Taeha to depict Clinton being awoken from a happy dream of his Arkansas childhood to the bedside phone ringing and the news that NK just announced its intention to withdraw from the NPT.  The 2015 novel Dignity, by a different author but in the same series, has President Johnson being awoken from a more prurient dream about groping his mistress to news of the USS Pueblo's capture. I suspect this trope is intended to mock the US leader as groggy/off balance, particularly in comparison to the North Korean leader who is always depicted working late into the night and rising early in the morning. But it also has the benefit of probably being often historically accurate, given the time difference and the time of day when most NK-related crises tend to happen.

"Bad news, boss."

No word this time on what Nixon was dreaming about; the president just answers grumpily.

   “What now? The Soviet Union or China?”

   “Neither, Mr. President.” It was Kissinger, the special adviser for national security. “It’s North Korea. We have just received a report that the reconnaissance aircraft EC-121, with 31 crew members, was shot down by North Korean fighter jets in the Korean East Sea.” 

   “Shot down? One of ours?

   “Yes, Mr. President.”

   “North Korea again?”

   “Yes, Mr. President.”

   Nixon froze, gripping receiver tightly. The EC-121 was a four-propeller reconnaissance aircraft of the US Navy. It was the latest large-scale reconnaissance aircraft, with a mass of more than 60 tons, a range of more than 7000 km, and a 24-hour flight time. It had launched from Yokota Base in Japan with an important mission to reconnoiter military movements in northeast China and the Far East of the Soviet Union, with a focus on North Korea. It had flown similar missions tens or hundreds of times in the past, but the Soviet Union had never summoned the courage [용단] to shoot it down.

   Nixon pursed his lips. He had no intention of following in the footsteps of the previous president, Johnson, who stepped down after last year’s "Pueblo" scandal gave him the reputation of most incompetent president ever... 

So thinking, Nixon immediately orders a bristling array of military hardware into the region. These are listed in detail: four aircraft carrier groups ("one more than was mustered for last year's Pueblo incident") and their escorts, as well as "hundreds" of fighter jets and bombers put into readiness at US bases in South Korea and Guam. 

Nixon's NSC in 1969
(Src: Bettmann/Corbis)

The National Security Council meeting the following day is also depicted. Nixon begins: "Today, we must discuss how to deal with communist North Korea’s reckless and grave provocation – that is, how to inflict an unprecedented retaliatory blow against North Korea, which intentionally damaged the honor of the United States of America and sacrificed 31 Americans."

Defense Secretary Laird is first to respond and also the most bloodthirsty, proposing to "strike 12 important points in North Korea with nuclear weapons, and then destroy all airfields in North Korea with more destructive nuclear weapons to annihilate their air power."

The State Department and the CIA oppose such a massive retaliation. They argue that "the US, currently suffering from the Vietnam War, did not have the strength to launch such a large-scale military action, and it would not get any popular support but would only give the hardline leadership of North Korea an opportunity to wage all-out war and take over South Korea." There is no discussion of whether such a move would violate international law or US treaty commitments such as the recently-signed NPT; even the diplomats seem only constrained by their weakened position and cowardly fear of North Korea's reaction.

Amid this discussion, they get the report that partial wreckage and two bodies have been recovered, along with an urgent telegram from ROK Ambassador William Porter urging no retaliation against North Korea. Porter's telegram argues that "North Korea had completed preparations for an all-out war since last year's Pueblo incident and was waiting only for the right moment for national reunification." 

Buoyed by this support, Secretary of State Rogers offers his own proposal: to save face by continuing  EC-121 reconnaissance flights with fighter jet escorts. Nixon considers this to be "a truly fragile plan to restore America's lost prestige" and "not even worth discussing." 

Finally Kissinger speaks up:

Src: Boston Globe

   “Mr. President, never forget this, that the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and China are watching us right now.”
   “It’s not just those countries. The whole world is watching us now, comparing us with the Johnson administration...” These words came from the Secretary of Defense.
   Nixon clenched his fists for the third time. “Then, Kissinger, tell us your idea.”
   “I propose retaliation, strong retaliation.”  Kissinger spoke rapidly without hesitation, as if reciting foreign language homework. “Only strong physical countermeasures can show off the confidence of the US at home and abroad, boost the morale of its allies, and dampen the courage of the radical North Korean leadership.”
   "Hmm…” Nixon was of the same opinion. However, he had more arithmetic and pragmatic calculations in mind than Kissinger, a scholar born to a Jewish family that fled to the US to avoid Hitler's extermination of Jews in Germany. In the event of a retaliatory strike, [Nixon] was concerned about what consequences it would bring to him, who had just ascended to the presidency.
   The meeting continued until late at night...

Thus, the thing that ended up happening in real life – continuing to run recon flights but with escorts – is shown being mocked and dismissed by the president as an unthinkably cowardly choice, before he backs down and goes with it. Kissinger as NSA is shown urging "strong retaliation" but does not actually mention a nuclear strike, as the SecDef does. Positioning Kissinger as the final and most forceful speaker makes him seem like the most capable person in the room, although if you pay attention, his words lack any detail and could be interpreted in multiple ways. 

Writing this scene in 2012, the author would be aware that Kissinger's reputation has not aged well in the eyes of the world. He's just the sort of low-hanging fruit that a North Korean novelist would typically put in an exaggerated mustache-twirling villain role. Thus it is interesting that he seems to get the most respectful treatment of all the players in the scene. He is too hawkish to be a real "good guy," but he at least seems to have his head on straight, and the biographical detail about him escaping the Holocaust seems to lend a more sympathetic motivation to his hawkishness.

Although Kissinger had a lifelong adversarial relationship to North Korea, they did have one noteworthy thing in common - they both wanted the 1968 Paris Peace Talks to fail, and for purely self-serving reasons. In that respect, I suppose one could argue that Kissinger did North Korea a solid. Perhaps this is their belated way of saying thanks?

Src: Nixon Foundation

Nixon did in fact convene an emergency NSC meeting that day to discuss the incident; the actual discussion can be found summarized here. In the summary neither Kissinger nor Laird come off sounding particularly hawkish. Nobody seems to have said anything about nukes, although the NK News article notes that "The incident did prompt the Nixon administration to consider contingency plans for future incidents with North Korea" including nuclear strikes on NK airfields.  It must be mentioned that some sources claim that Nixon did initially order a nuclear strike on North Korea as a knee-jerk reaction under the influence of rage and alcohol, and that Henry Kissinger was the one who talked him down.

The novel also briefly depicts KIS getting the news about the EC-121 downing – on his birthday, no less. KIS inquires about the name of the pilot who fired the shot, and it turns out to be one of the story's lead fictional characters, a young KPA fighter pilot who also appeared in earlier scenes dogfighting with the USAF in Vietnam. 

Separately, leader-in-training Kim Jong Il shares the news with ailing Vice-President Kim Il, another major character in this novel, who at the time is bedridden recovering from major surgery. "Comrade Kim Il," KJI soothes, "everything is going well, so why are you fretting? Smile. The Great Leader has performed his own 'major surgery' with the shooting down of the EC-121 spy plane that you were so worried about, so do not worry anymore." He then shares the text of Nixon's press statement announcing no retaliation, and the two men joke that "under the giant mountain was just one tiny mouse" (태산명동에 서일필, from the Chinese idiom 泰山鳴動 鼠一匹).