Pak Nam-gi
Pak Nam-gi | |
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Korean name | |
---|---|
Chosŏn'gŭl | 박남기 |
Hancha | 朴南基 |
Revised Romanization | Bak Namgi |
McCune–Reischauer | Pak 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
References
- ^ "Park Nam Ki Arrested for Currency Debacle: sources". Daily NK. 17 March 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ "(Japanese language source)". Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ "Who Hangs With Kim Jong-il". 14 April 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ "N. Korean technocrat executed for bungled currency reform: sources". Yonhap News Agency. March 18, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
- ^ "Kim Jong-il 'Suffers Depression'". The Chosun Ilbo, English edition. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ Branigan, Tania (18 March 2010). "North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform". The Guardian. London.
- ^ McNeill, David (3 December 2009). "North Koreans dare to protest as devaluation wipes out savings". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24.
- ^ "North Korean official Pak Nam-ki executed for disastrous currency reform". London: Times Online. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
- ^ https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2918364 [bare URL]
- ^ "Death by firing squad in North Korea?". Foreign Policy. 24 December 2012. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
- ^ "Secret Report Throws Light on N.Korean Purges". Nov 27, 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
- ^ Alastair Gale (12 December 2013), What North Korea Said About Jang Song Thaek The Wall Street Journal
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