The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man

The Indian Ocean

The encrypted report from the captain of Honour and Strength was absolutely sensational. Kim Jong-un read it himself and drew his own conclusions. He had certain similarities to Trump in Washington in that he was reluctant to delegate tasks in his administration. With the possible difference that Trump drew conclusions without doing the actual reading.

The captain had managed to spell the non-existent phrase ‘hetisostat pressure’ correctly. And he had got the meaningless acronym GDM in the right order. But in the captain’s formulation, the international expert Allan Karlsson happened to become Swiss instead of Swedish.

Perhaps this was lucky, given what was to come. A Swedish foreign minister who wanted to talk nuclear weapons, and an equally Swedish nuclear weapons expert a few days later, might have been too much for a conspiracy theorist’s brain.

Instead the entire situation landed within the realm of likelihood, and Kim Jong-un could see potential.

Honour and Strength would reach the harbour outside Pyongyang in a few days. What if one were to… said Kim Jong-un to himself. And agreed. A PR war was still war. With the help of the UN and the Swiss man, the republic could, within a few days, begin to matter extraordinarily in this area.

The Supreme Leader summoned his secretary from outside the door, with a curt order: ‘Get the Swedish ambassador here.’

‘Yes, Supreme Leader. When, Supreme Leader?’

‘Now.’

‘The Supreme Leader wished to speak with me,’ said Ambassador Lövenstierna when, under an hour later, he found himself in Kim Jong-un’s palace.

‘Not so much with you as to you,’ said Kim Jong-un. ‘I have decided to invite the UN Security Council to informal talks. What was her name again, the one who wanted to come here?’

‘Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström,’ said Ambassador Lövenstierna.

‘That’s right. Bring her here, as I said. Immediately.’

Ambassador Lövenstierna nodded in acknowledgement. ‘Then I ask permission to withdraw,’ he said, for the second time in twenty-four hours.

And once again he backed out of the Supreme Leader’s office. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.