Despite occasional feelings of guilt, particularly when a Japanese woman accidentally dies during an abduction, Jun Do never questions his work and follows every order; as a reward, he is taught to speak and read English, greatly increasing his value as a citizen.

The negotiations break down when the senator, who assumes Jun Do is the true leader of the group masquerading as a figurehead, is angered by the subterfuge and refuses to meet any of their demands.

An unnamed interrogator for the North Korean state has been tasked with investigating national hero Commander Ga Chol Chun, who has been arrested for killing his wife – the famous actress Sun Moon – and their children.

The Dear Leader reveals to "Commander Ga" that he has captured one of the American rower girls and plans to use her as a bargaining chip to recover the confiscated Japanese technology, with which they intend to bolster their development of nuclear power.

While the Dear Leader is distracted by the delegation, Jun Do smuggles Sun Moon and the children aboard the American aircraft, allowing himself to be captured to ensure their escape.

The novel ends with the "official" version of Sun Moon's escape – "Ga" dies in a fantastical attempt to save her from being kidnapped by the Americans and proclaims him a martyr to be revered forever.

[8] In The New York Times, Michiko Kakutani, called it "a daring and remarkable novel, a novel that not only opens a frightening window on the mysterious kingdom of North Korea but one that also excavates the very meaning of love and sacrifice.

"[9] Writing in the Wall Street Journal,[10] Sam Sacks said “stylistic panache, technical daring, moral weight and an uncanny sense of the current moment—combine in Adam Johnson's 'The Orphan Master's Son', the single best work of fiction published in 2012.” M. Francis Wolff, in her review for The New Inquiry,[11] called the book "one of those rare works of high ambition that follow through on all of its promises... it examines both the Orwellian horrors of life in the DPRK and the voyeurism of Western media."

David Ignatius’ review in The Washington Post called the novel “an audacious act of imagination.”[12] In the New York Times, Christopher R. Beha called it “an ingeniously plotted adventure that feels much shorter than its roughly 450 pages and offers the reader a tremendous amount of fun,” but complained that the “[propaganda] interludes are fine exercises in dark wit, but in the context of a novel that seeks to portray a country’s suffering, they’re unconvincing.”[13] On April 15, 2013, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.