Secret Mission: North Korea

Secret Mission #8: “North Korea” by Don Smith. Phillip Sherman, an American computer expert is in Japan to sell computers, is arrested in a bar when his drinking partner kills a girl that stole his wallet. Unknown to Sherman, the guy was employed by the CIA to take a boat into North Korean waters with a bomb on board. Now his old CIA buddy, Ross McCullough tells him he’ll take care of his arrest, but Sherman must take the ship now that the other man is facing trial for murder.  The mission fails as soon as they near North Korea, as a stowaway girl was a spy working for the North, and they were expected. But she didn’t know about the bomb, and when it goes off, Sherman and one of his men, accompanied by the girl, escape. They don’t get far, and are captured again by Pak Kuk Chung. He has a harem of Blonde Scandinavian women in a fortress guarded by well-armed Koreans.  He served the Japanese in WWII as Colonel Ozaki, a Japanese born in Korea,; he was known as Po Sung Chul during the Korean War. He forces Sherman to contact the CIA, requesting amnesty for his war crimes in turn for their release. In a coded reply, Sherman knows Ozaki will not receive amnesty, and they plan an escape from the stronghold. This was another good story featuring the non-CIA agent, who seems to be caught up in the agency’s secret missions. A fun read.