Dennis Halpin, a former State Department official who drew on his deep Catholic faith to advocate for human rights in both North and South Korea, died on Friday at his home in Virginia. He was 75.

He was battling end-stage kidney disease and had suffered strokes, according to his son Sean Halpin. 

Halpin’s ties to the Korean Peninsula spanned over five decades, beginning in Feb. 1971 when he arrived in Seoul as a Peace Corps volunteer.

He returned to South Korea for a second time as a young foreign service officer, working at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul from 1978