The Pyongyang Assignment (38th Parallel #5)

His job was to keep the status quo in Pyongyang as much as possible.

Hers was to decide if they could be as un-Pyongyang as possible.

Marina Lambert has been sent to North Korea with a deceptively simple assignment: determine whether a European Union diplomatic office in Pyongyang can be safely re-opened.

Ri Sung-cheol is the North Korean diplomatic officer assigned to help her do it.

He is her interpreter, driver, liaison—and part of the system she’s there to evaluate. Every room may be listening. Every movement is watched. And the closer Marina gets to the truth about North Korea, the closer she gets to the man who is supposed to remain firmly on the other side of the line.

For Marina, crossing it could cost her career.

For Sung-cheol, it could cost him everything.

Because falling in love in Pyongyang isn’t just a bad idea.

It may be impossible to survive.