 Evelyn Salt ( Angelina Jolie ) is being tortured in a North Korean prison on suspicion of being an American spy . Her boyfriend , arachnologist Mike Krause ( August Diehl ) , generates so much publicity that the CIA is forced to arrange a prisoner exchange , despite the agency 's policy against it . Salt 's CIA colleague Ted Winter ( Liev Schreiber ) greets Salt at the border . As they drive away , Mike proposes marriage , despite Salt 's admission that she is in fact a CIA operative . 
