The secret trilateral plan between China, North Korea, and South Korea, led and implemented by Song An, was, plainly speaking, an exercise in nuclear blackmail.
However, the DC-8 portable, hand-carried nuclear weapon involved in it was entirely fictitious.
North Korea's strenuous efforts to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent were already an open secret internationally.
The honeymoon in relations between North Korea and South Korea was another change that had emerged on the Korean Peninsula in recent years.
It would also be perfectly normal for the two Koreas to have jointly developed the DC-8, and for American intelligence to have secretly uncovered that information.
After all, from America's perspective, South Korea's internal security measures were no different from a sieve.
Whether the DC-8 was real did not actually matter.
What mattered was the improvement and harmony in relations between the two Koreas, as well as Mainland China's strategic policy toward the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific Region.
In Zhou Quan's view, this secret trilateral plan was, in fact, an entirely overt stratagem.
Once news of the DC-8 leaked, America, the self-proclaimed World Police, would inevitably take action.
If the other side moved in response to the news, it would inevitably be drawn into this game.
If it held its position, then, given Mainland China's capabilities, the DC-8 might well become a genuine secret weapon in its little brother North Korea's hands.
According to what Zhou Quan knew, the two Koreas each controlled one of the DC-8's two components.
South Korea was responsible for the triggering device, while North Korea held the sphere of nuclear material.
By comparison, the sphere of material in North Korea's hands was undoubtedly more critical.
Although China, North Korea, and South Korea had launched this secret plan together, there were still differences in how close