A focus on Korean culture
Although there must certainly be fictional South Korean detectives, we only know of James Church's Inspector O, who works for the North Korean government. Like all good fictional detectives, Inspector O stands for truth, justice, and the Korean way, and we both applaud his efforts and also feel his pain when circumstances—often political—keep him from his duty.
Following Inspector O around tells us much about modern North Korean life (the author observed it over several years, we are told), and give us great (if fictionally based) hope that all but a few North Koreans are like Inspector O. The world will truly be at peace then.
Michael Broschat, Aug 2008