JAMES HOARE spent over thirty years in the British Diplomatic Service, with postings to Seoul and Beijing. His last job was <i>Chargé D’Affaires</i> in Pyongyang, North Korea, where he established the British Embassy. Since retirement, he has become a regular radio and television commentator on Korea, and he also teaches at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He has written numerous books and articles about East Asia, including <i>Embassies in the East: The Story of the British and Their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the Present</i> (1999), and, with his wife, Susan Pares, <i>North Korea in the 21st Century: An Interpretative Guide</i> (2005).