Pak Nam-gi explained

Hangul:박남기
Hanja:朴南基
Context:north
Mr:Pak Namgi
Rr:Bak Namgi

Pak Nam-gi or Park Nam-ki (21 February 1934 – 17 March 2010) was, until as late as January 2010,[1] Director of the Planning and Finance Department of the ruling party of North Korea. There are doubts about his date of birth, with at least two unattributed sources[2] [3] reporting it as 21 February 1934 or sometime in 1928 respectively.

In March 2010, it was reported by news agencies including Yonhap,[4] Bloomberg,[5] and The Guardian[6] that Pak had been tried and then executed by firing squad in Pyongyang for the offense of being "a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy". According to the Guardian, he had been denounced as a traitor during a meeting in January 2010 and arrested on the spot. This related to the devaluation of the North Korean won in November 2009, which led to a crisis after rendering valueless many people's savings.[7] [8] Following his execution, Pak was subsequently edited out of various official films and photographs.[9]

Although John Park, a Stanton junior faculty fellow at MIT, claimed in 2012 that Pak Nam-gi is still alive and had resurfaced after his alleged execution,[10] Ri Je-gang, the former First Deputy Head of the WPK Organization and Guidance Department, says Pak Nam-gi was executed by firing squad in the course of a reactionary purge in 2010.[11]

In December 2013 when Jang Sung-taek, uncle of supreme leader Kim Jong Un, was executed, amongst the charges against Jang was that Jang had been the "wirepuller behind the scene" of "Pak Nam Gi, traitor for all ages".[12]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Park Nam Ki Arrested for Currency Debacle: sources. 17 March 2010. Daily NK. 20 March 2010.
  2. Web site: (Japanese language source) . 18 March 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080928160055/http://www.piks.or.tv/person/person/paknamgi.htm . September 28, 2008 .
  3. Web site: Who Hangs With Kim Jong-il. 14 April 2009 . 20 March 2010.
  4. Web site: N. Korean technocrat executed for bungled currency reform: sources. March 18, 2010. . 2010-03-18.
  5. Web site: Kim Jong-il 'Suffers Depression'. The Chosun Ilbo, English edition. 3 March 2010. 18 March 2010.
  6. News: North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform. The Guardian. 18 March 2010 . London . Tania . Branigan.
  7. News: North Koreans dare to protest as devaluation wipes out savings. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-koreans-dare-to-protest-as-devaluation-wipes-out-savings-1833156.html . 2022-05-24 . subscription . live. The Independent. 3 December 2009 . London . David . McNeill.
  8. News: North Korean official Pak Nam-ki executed for disastrous currency reform. https://web.archive.org/web/20110811115811/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7066576.ece. dead. August 11, 2011. 18 March 2010. Times Online. 18 March 2010 . London.
  9. Web site: Top official edited out of North Korea news films . 25 March 2010 .
  10. News: Death by firing squad in North Korea?. Foreign Policy. 24 December 2012. 10 March 2017. 22 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141122144921/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/24/death_by_firing_squad_in_north_korea. dead.
  11. Web site: Secret Report Throws Light on N.Korean Purges. 1 November 2012. Nov 27, 2012 .
  12. Alastair Gale (12 December 2013), What North Korea Said About Jang Song Thaek The Wall Street Journal