LONDON --When diplomat Dr. James E. Hoare was head of post at the British Embassy in the DPRK, he often went to the airport. Speaking impressive Korean -- "but I am not a linguist," he protested -- he was on hand to help welcome visitors to North Korea.

In January 2001, Hoare was named charge' d'affaires and consul general in the DPRK, responsible for establishing the British Embassy. He was, he said, "doing something completely new. I was setting up the British Embassy from scratch. Very few British, even British diplomats, knew much about North Korea." He and his wife Susan lived in Pyongyang until October last year, when Hoare retired.

"The posting to North Korea was not so difficult as we expected," Hoare said from his London home. 'We moved freely around the city and the countryside. I think whatever the political regime the Korean people are a dignified and interesting people."

Pyongyang and his life there were a far cry from his original home outside London and his boyhood circumstances in England. He comes from a family with a background in Irish Catholicism that was reinforced by his education at a Catholic grammar school. His brother and his sister embarked on careers as teachers. Hoare, sane and steady, set out to do a degree in American history at Queen Mary College.

He said, "My head of department, who had been tutor to the crown prince of Iran, believed in the merit of moving into new fields." Due to his influence, Hoare became interested in Japan and Japanese studies. From the School of Oriental and African Studies, in 1966 Hoare traveled to Tokyo, to spend six months at Tokyo University. He already had his degree in history. In 1971 he received his doctorate in Japanese history from the University of London.

Hoare joined the diplomatic service in 1969 "I was recruited as a research officer to work on China," he said. "That was varied work that provided continuity to the Foreign Office desks." Researchers, whose wide briefs included territorial disputes and analyses of political developments, "tended to stay put, working for long periods on the same subjects." Hoare joined diplomats on the move when in 1981 he began a four-year service in the British Embassy in Seoul. By then his family had grown to include two sons and a daughter.

"I knew very little about Korea until 1981," Hoare said. Circumstances then combined to make his appointment happy and productive. "We celebrated one hundred years of the first diplomatic links between Britain and Korea. My own job was very different. We were busy, but not too busy. We traveled a lot, found the people friendly, and we liked everything. Korea was fun." On a visit to Tokyo during that period, he read a scholarly paper to the Asiatic Society of Japan.

A subsequent posting to the British Embassy in Beijing confirmed Hoare's status as a specialist in East Asia. Later, as a research associate he was seconded to the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. He became a research counselor, heading the North Asia and Pacific Research Group of the research analysts in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Among several books, he published "Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the present." Then came North Korea.

Hoare said, 'We found North Korea interesting and stimulating. There are major problems, but we shouldn't be truculent and confrontational because of the complexities. It is better to look for ways to diffuse tensions, but difficult to convince those who believe that all evil resides in Pyongyang."

In retirement, Hoare offers knowledge and accounts of personal experience that are widely sought. As a consultant on East Asia, he is fully occupied with writing and broadcasting. Valuable recent editions of his output are a pertinent encyclopedia, co-produced with his wife, on "Roots of Modern Conflict: Conflict in Korea," and "Beijing," a volume in the World Bibliographical Series.