Adrian Buzo, an Australian diplomat who helped to open and soon after close the country’s embassy in Pyongyang, as well as a pioneer scholar of North Korea and Korean studies, died last week. He was 77.

He passed away in Australia following a long battle with cancer, his family confirmed.

Born into a family with Albanian and Irish roots that was deeply engaged in Australia’s cultural and public life — his father was a Harvard-educated civil engineer, his mother a teacher, and his brother a celebrated playwright — Buzo brought a deep intellectual curiosity and cross-cultural awareness to everything he