The Rebel and the Kingdom by Bradley Hope

Author:Bradley Hope [Hope, Bradley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2022-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

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Even though Kim Han-sol and his family had slipped through Adrian’s fingers at the last moment, Adrian decided Cheollima had reached a critical milestone. This was the kind of action that would put them on the map, which was all the more important because their aspirations were much greater than simply running an underground network for people to escape the wrath of the Kim regime. They wanted to take on the regime itself in the places and times they chose.

Back in New York City, Adrian convened a special meeting of the Joseon Institute at their Koreatown headquarters. Until that moment the Joseon Institute was mainly a producer of edgy white papers from volunteers—the aboveground side of Adrian’s activities. Cheollima was the name Adrian used for his loose confederation of allies in the activist world who were keen to take on edgier work—propaganda operations at the border, gathering intelligence from defectors, and developing sources with information about North Korea.

Standing before a room of more than forty volunteers—teachers, businesspeople, a few creative types—he explained that it was time the organization known as the Joseon Institute disappeared and for Cheollima Civil Defense to rise up in its place. For years, Adrian had been convincing these volunteers with little or no specialist training of any kind that they could actually make a difference in the world by pairing their passion for the cause with direct interventions on the ground.

Adrian praised the actions of Ahn, who had flown in from L.A. to join the meeting. Without Ahn’s quick movements, it’s possible Kim Han-sol, his mother, and his sister could have been captured in Macau by North Korea operatives. This, he told them, was the kind of action Cheollima Civil Defense could do going forward. With nothing more than credit cards and the will to help, they’d assisted in rescuing high-profile targets of Kim Jong-un’s. What could they do with resources?

Adrian was in his element, idealistic and inspirational, but he also had something concrete to show for his vision. He framed their group as part of a long history of Koreans resisting oppressors, including fighting against the Japanese occupiers mostly in the twentieth century. It came across as a combination of battle cry and human rights sermon. At times, he struck listeners as a lawyer making a moral case for a client’s actions; the twist was the client hadn’t committed the acts yet.

In practical terms, Adrian also laid out core tenets of the group, including secrecy and compartmentalization. After this meeting, efforts would be segmented into groups with only those who “need to know” given all the details. Different groups also worked on problems like how to set up a Bitcoin wallet for donations to the group, anti-regime propaganda efforts, and secrecy protocols for the group. Everyone was to use disappearing messages on apps like Signal to communicate. They’d hold conference calls using a piece of software called Silent Circle.

Afterward, Adrian led the whole group to Dallas BBQ, a discount barbecue restaurant popular with thrifty twentysomethings in Manhattan who wanted to eat and drink to their heart’s content.

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