Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil

Korea, 1950.

America fights in a war that leaves two million dead.

The fighting ends in a draw, leaving Korea divided-

North and South- and technically still at war.

The north becomes a surreal blend of Stalinism, Communism...

and cult of personality dictatorship, known to the world...

as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or the D.P.R.K.

April 1994. The D.P.R.K. stuns the world...

when it announces its withdrawal from the Nonproliferation Treaty...

and reveals its plan to build nuclear weapons.

May 1994.

Determined to prevent North Korea from becoming a nuclear power,

President Bill Clinton orders Defense Secretary William Perry...

to draw up military OPLAN 5027-

a U.S. surgical strike on the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

Many voice their concern the D.P.R.K. might retaliate...

with their 11,000 artillery tubes trained on Seoul, South Korea.

Just as the N.S.C. is meeting to discuss the evacuation...

of all nonmilitary personnel in Seoul,

there is a telephone call from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

As a private citizen, President Carter had flown to Pyongyang,

met with North Korea's leader, Kim Il Sung...

and struck a deal which averted military action.

Had OPLAN 5027 been executed,

the Pentagon had projected up to one million deaths.

Few people realize, in June 1994,

America was days, if not hours, away from war with North Korea.

They're gonna crucify Weylon for this.

How long till launch time? They're saying six days.

Τen-hut! Good morning, sir.

All right, Weylon. Tell me what you know.

Mr. President, Secretary of Defense Beekman is in Qatar for the week...

unless you direct him home sooner.

General Vance, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,

will be discussing the military viewpoint. Mr. President.

General.

Sir, a-approximately six hours ago,

the satellite reconnaissance center analyzed imaging data from a-

Mr. President, um- Oh, I'm sorry, guys. Be seated.

Imaging data from a KH-12 over North Korea...

showing what we can now say with certainty...

is a three-stage, Topol-class intercontinental ballistic missile...

at the Yongjiri Missile Center.

We were actually extremely fortunate to acquire these images...

as the crane was loading the missile into its underground silo.

If it was half an hour later, we never would have seen it.

Sir, the longest-range missile North Korea had prior to this...

would have run out of fuel somewhere over Alaska.

Three stages means it can hit New York, Washington, D.C.- anywhere in CON-U.S.

- What do we know about its payload? - From these images, it's impossible to say.

- Could it be a warhead or a nuclear device? - We can't say.

It's not likely, Mr. President.

The Lockheed KΗ-12 has a rotating periscope mirror,

which means it can get a high angle of obliquity.

We're gonna spin the bird around, get a better angle.

That'll help us determine the load.

We've always assumed that North Korea would never deploy a long-range missile like this...

because of our certain and inevitable military response.

Sir, even test-firing a three-stage rocket...

is a 10-year leap forward in their strategic capabilities,

and it represents a direct and grave threat to our national security.

We won't let that happen.

Let's try to keep things under control tonight, okay?

Let's try.

Shultiess, how you doin'? Good, sir.

what are you doing?

Master Chief asked me to tell him when this old man gets off the phone.

Well, carry on.

Where'd you find the banana? Looks like he's 12.

He speaks some Korean, and he's a hell of a shot.

I need, like, 200 500-won coins just to call Boston. Isn't that ridiculous?

- L.Τ., did you get the score of the 49ers game? -

- What was that, 36-27? - Guys, come on. I'm tryin' to count.

- The field temperature was, like, 97. - You happy?

You guys suck. Get me a beer.

- Meideros, what's goin' on? - I got two 8,000-pound laser-guided chopsticks...

suspended from an extended-range CH-53 chopper, and I’m figuring-

Bad idea. You're way vulnerable to R.P.G.'s coming from those soy sauce bottles.

Bound to be small-arms fire coming from the fish flakes.

I bet you even money there's a sniper hiding in that bowl of jigae.

Gotta think. That's why I roll with you, man.

- Master Chief! - Keep your eye on these.

- Baby, is that you? - Fifty bucks says he starts bawlin'.

- I'll take that. - I love you so much, baby.

Here it comes. I miss you.

Just tell me what's going on? Are you okay? Yeah. Yeah.

Wait, wait. Here it comes. Wait for it.

A girl? Wait for it.

This is sad, man. I can't look. I got a baby girl?

Waterworks. What's up with that?

Hello? Amy!

Hello? This goddamn-

It’s a girl? It's a girl, dude.

I got a baby girl. Yeah! Congratulations, man.

Yo, um, I already talked to Amy about it.

We're gonna name her Bobbi.

That's real nice, Spaz.

I got a baby girl, man. You got a baby girl.

- I got a baby girl, gentlemen! -

What's on offer, General?

Sir, we propose Operation Sheet Lightning-

a surgical strike on the missile site.

Multiple cruise missile launches concurrent with sorties...

from seven B-2 Stealth Spirits and five F-117As.

Ellie?

If it was any other sovereign nation, sir, I'd urge negotiations.

But D.P.R.K.-

there is just no viable diplomatic option.

And if they do test that missile,

it devastates our footing in the multilateral talks.

Yeah.

- Have the warning orders been given, General? - Yes, sir.

Okay. So we take out the missile site.

What's Pyongyang gonna do?

Well, sir, I think Kim's people could be persuaded to stand down.

I think the general overestimates my skills of diplomacy, sir.

What are they gonna do, Weylon?

Either a cantankerous political-diplomatic protest...

or some sort of military response- not much in between.

Sir?

Sir, that is Commander Tim Mackey,

Commander, U.S. Naval Base, Jinhae, South Korea.

Mr. President, if we attack that missile site,

the D.P.R.K. will most surely counterattack at Seoul,

using their 11,000 artillery tubes.

That's possible.

Or a more proportional response would be SCUD missile attack...

against the research center at Taejon.

And the South Koreans respond with a strike at the D.M.Z.-

Or the Pyongyang nuclear facility.

And the North Koreans respond with their artillery.

We bomb them- they bomb their neighbors.

We have a contingency, sir, should the north attempt that-

Operation Swift Rage.

We can neutralize 90% of North Korea's response capabilities...

in the first 24 hours of hostilities.

And we'd be at war.

Sir, I believe we've been at war for at least six hours now.

Mr. President, if I may?

Negative, Commander.

Go on, Commander.

Mr. President, in 1997,

North Korea opened its air space to commercial airliners.

A platoon from SEALs Team 1 could board a commercial airlines flight in Seoul,

deploy over North Korea-

You don't think the North Koreans would pick up a commercial airliner...

leaving from a U.S. military base in South Korea?

Sir, we would just dress the SEALs up,

walk 'em right through Incheon International,

put 'em on a chartered commercial airliner and take off.

Mixed right in with civilian traffic- completely undetectable.

We would deploy over North Korea,

glide the 60 miles to the Yongjiri missile site...

and sabotage the missile as it's being fueled.

Secondary explosions should destroy the entire complex.

Whole thing will be perceived as an industrial accident of some kind.

North Korea would have no grounds to retaliate, sir.

And if it turned out to be a nuclear warhead, what about the radiation?

The blast from the fuel explosions would be massive, sir.

Even though it wouldn't be an atomic blast,

it would probably create its own mushroom cloud.

The heat from the blast would incinerate any nuclear materials,

alleviating any radiation concerns.

Sir, I don't recommend this.

If they're detected, it's an act of war, and we lose the element of surprise.

What's the window of opportunity to explore a Special Ops plan?

I'd say 72 hours, but I wouldn't-

- Seventy-two hours. - Sir, a covert action?

I-

We need to send a strong proportional and visible response...

to the North Koreans- to the whole world-

to put them on notice that that dog don't hunt.

We will never allow them to be an I.C.B.M. power.

Commander Mackey, could you be ready in 72 hours?

Yes, sir. I believe we could be ready.

Admiral?

It’s not much time to put a mission together, sir, but-

I understand.

Gentlemen, keep up with your preparations.

I’ll give you a decision within six hours.

Yes, sir. We'll give it everything we've got.

Thank you, Mr. President.

"We'll give it everything we've got." Tell me I didn't just say that.

What are you looking at?

Get lieutenant James in here. Yes, sir.

Mr. President,

- Kim Jong Il is 5'2". He wears four-inch lifts. - Sexy.

He lives in a pleasure palace where he indulges his penchant for Swedish prostitutes.

This missile is pompous grandstanding by a very small man.

Sir, in 1996, the Korea Institute for National Reunification...

applied a computer model that accurately predicted Eastern Europe's collapse.

- Yeah? - According to the model-

North Korea should have collapsed in 1992.

I say we give this job to Special Ops and make this all go away...

and let North Korea collapse when it collapses.

Cam?

Yeah.

Okay.

Tell Mackey his mission is a "go."

But keep General Vance and his stealth bombers on standby...