  We present high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of GRB 020405 obtained with the
Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) on board the Chandra X-ray
Observatory starting 1.68 days after the burst. The spectrum appears
featureless, with no evidence for emission lines, absorption edges, or narrow
radiative recombination continua. The continuum can be fitted by a power law of
photon index Gamma = 1.72 +/- 0.21 and temporal decay index alpha = 1.87 +/-
0.1, with a marginally significant excess column density of cold gas N_{H}=(4.7
+/- 3.7) x 10^{21} cm^{-2} at the redshift of the host galaxy. The absence of
iron lines indicates that the density of nearby surrounding material was
unlikely to be very dense (n < 5 x 10^{12} cm^{-3}) at the time of the Chandra
observation. In the case of recombination following photoionization in an
optically thin medium, most ionic species would be completely stripped at lower
gas densities than this. In the case of a power-law spectrum reflecting off a
``cold'', opaque medium of low density, negligible emission features would be
produced. Alternative to these possible explanations for the lack of emission
features, any X-ray line emission taking place in a dense medium in a ``nearby
reprocessor'' scenario might have been overwhelmed by the bright afterglow
continuum. Although the absence of discrete features does not unambiguously
test for a connection between GRB 020405 and nucleosynthesis, it emphasizes the
need for high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy to determine the exact emission
mechanism responsible for the reported discrete lines in other GRB afterglows.
