A Corpse in the Koryo. James Church. Thomas Dunne Books, 2006.

This is a mystery set mostly in Pyongyang and Manpo, North Korea. The the main character, Inspector O, is an investigator in the Investigations Department of the Internal Security Bureau. As the title indicates there is a murder in the Koryo Hotel and Inspector O is assigned to the case. O follows several leads, meets a Finnish-Chinese prostitute, gets knocked unconscious, and generally has a series of adventures in the course of the investigation. As mysteries go, the book is interesting enough but rather unexciting. Even though it is fictional, the real value of this book is the description of life in North Korea, particularly the Mafioso-like organization of government entities.

“James Church” is the author’s pen name, who is described as a “Western intelligence officer,” with decades of experience in Asia and who has years of experience in Korea. What sort of intelligence officer – case officer (spy handler) or analyst – is not known, but either could have years of experience in Asia and access to operational records that would enable them to create an accurate portrayal of life at Inspector O’s level.

Presumably Inspector O is a composite of North and South Korean intelligence and security personnel Church knew or read about over his years in Korea. As a low-level security official in Pyongyang, O was part of the elite but not particularly powerful. He had traveled abroad to at least Eastern Europe, spoke Russian, and was generally worldly and knowledgeable of outside events. O’s parents were killed in the Korean War and his grandfather had been an anti-Japanese guerilla fighter and revolutionary hero, in part explaining his elite status. Perhaps to make him likable to a Western audience, character O made a point of never wearing his lapel pin (of Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il), and seemed to go along to get along, but not to believe North Korean propaganda.

The driving force behind significant events in the book is, to me, the most interesting part and something that is oddly not really mentioned in other reviews I’ve seen. The premise is that North Korea has at long last made a deal with Japan concerning the abduction issue, which is causing turmoil among the elite in Pyongyang due to the changes in the works, particularly who would be offered up as the sacrificial goat (no lambs in North Korean security services) as the rouge agents who were responsible for the abductions. This pits various security services against each other and is intertwined with O’s murder investigation. This is a very plausible scenario that could be applied to similar situations, perhaps even denuclearization.

A point to take from this is that many North Korean elite are well aware of the dysfunctional nature of their system, but like Kim Jong-il, are fighting to keep that system as their best way to maintain elite status. When the elite no longer find their status affording them an acceptable level of comfort and have a viable alternative, regime change from within could be initiated.

Again, while the book is fiction and the mystery portion not outstanding, the details of North Korean life and elite politics are extremely interesting. Having said that, the author seems to have written the book to appeal to a wider audience than Korea watchers, meaning you won’t see words like “kimchi” or other references using Korean words, which in my opinion detracts. A mistake in this area was not fully explaining some of the implications of what can happen to those who fall from grace (gulags), or the history of the Japanese abductions, which has a meaning that could be entirely missed by most.

The cover of the book, like many books, includes notes from famous or significant reviewers, including Booklist and Publisher Weekly. Oddly enough, Newt Gingrich reviews the book and is the only one included on the cover that points to the significance of understanding North Korea’s leadership.

On a side note, it’s been so long since I read a novel that I was initially surprised not to find end notes, a bibliography, or an index.

While this falls short of the “must read” designation, the mechanics of how the security apparatus of the regime functions, details and descriptions of bribery, information exchanges, black markets, breaking and bending of the rules, and daily life make this a solid “should read.”