I was not a normal diplomat. I joined the British Diplomatic Service in September 1969 as a member of the Research Department, and remained formally a member of that cadre until I retired in January 2003. This Department was staffed by area specialists, as is its successor, Research Analysts. Their specializations might take them on overseas postings, but unlike mainstream officers, they would return to London to continue working in their area of expertise. My specialisation was East Asia and I completed my PhD just after joining the Diplomatic Service. I spent most of my time working on Chinese foreign policy. However, my grounding in diplomacy came from my doctoral thesis. Understanding and explaining the ways of the western powers in Japan in the 19th century, together with the mysteries of extraterritoriality and similar topics generated by their activities, provided the only theoretical training in the conduct of diplomacy that I ever received.

SEOUL: 1981–85

I was appointed Head of Chancery and Consul for Seoul, Republic of South Korea (ROK) in January 1981. Seoul's diplomatic community in the early 1980s was somewhat distorted. Until 1905, Korea had been an independent kingdom, which had been reluctantly forced to open its doors to foreigners from the 1870s onwards. The Japanese had led the way in 1876, to be followed by the United States in 1882 and then a number of European countries. Korea was less important than either China or Japan in terms of trade, and the western foreign community was always small. When Japan declared a protectorate over Korea in 1905, the western presence declined even further, and the legations closed. Some, including the British, reopened as consular posts, which continued after Korea became a Japanese colony in 1910. These posts remained small, and all were left vacant for long periods. The British consulate-general, in the heart of the city, occupied a position on a slight hill and was very much the centre of western social life until the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 led to the internment and eventual repatriation of the staff.

Postwar Korea was very different. The peninsula was divided, and eventually two separate states emerged, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK – North Korea), backed by the Soviet Union, and the ROK, backed by the United States.