Pak Noja

Pak was born as Vladimir Tikhonov to a Russian Jewish family in Leningrad, Soviet Union. His Russian name is Vladimir Tikhonov, but after immigrating to South Korea in 1997, he changed his name to a Korean name, Pak Noja, and became naturalised as a South Korean citizen in 2001.

Fascinated by Korean movies and classical literature during his high school years, he decided to study Korean history. At the age of sixteen, he entered the Department of Korean Studies at St. Petersburg National University of Russia, and he made his first visit to Korea as an exchange student in 1991, staying in Seoul for about three months.

After his bachelor's degree, Pak continued studying Korean history and was awarded a doctorate from Moscow State University for his thesis on Gaya, a confederation of city-states that lasted until the 6th century in the southern part of Korea.

While working on his degree, in 1992, Pak met a Korean violinist, Paik Myong-jong (백명정, born 1971), who was at that time studying at the Leningrad University of Russia; they married in 1995.

Pak worked on translating Korean literature into Russian and wrote several liberal arts and sociology books about Korean culture and politics, including his best-selling book, Your Korea (당신들의 대한민국). His writings made him known as one of Korea's influential progressive intellectuals, and brought on many controversial issues within Korea through sharp criticism.

Pak has taught Russian at Kyunghee University in Korea, and is currently teaching Korean studies as a professor at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Statements on China

In 2009, Pak remarked that the "Korean economy will be annexed by the Chinese economic zone within 5, 10 years". The Korean left responded critically to this claim, but Pak went on to clarify his thesis. According to his column, "it is not proper, I just said inescapable".

Moreover, he supported the Chinese government with respect to Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Peace Prize. Pak criticized Liu Xiaobo as a "follower of Western countries" and "a supporter of colonialism in China". According to Pak, "the process of democratization in China is not only elite, but also working-class".

Pak suggests that Liu's support in his Charter 08 of 'legislative democracy' and the 'protection of private property' raises doubts on whether "Liu Xiaobo wants a 'non-communist, dictatorial China' or a 'worker-friendly China'". Pak claims that "true reform must be undertaken by the working class".

Pak is critical about China's policy on Uyghur. In a column written in 2019 he argued "Policies against the Uyghur people, whose right to survive is threatened, are reminiscent of the national annihilation measures that the Korean people experienced at the end of the Japanese colonial period."

Statement about Ukraine War

He criticized some South Korean left nationalists for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In his column in the Hankyoreh, he argued, "The courage that Ukrainian citizens are demonstrating in their struggle against aggression will long provide inspiration for Russians, too!" He supports South Korea accepting Ukraine refugees however he is against South Korea's involvement in the conflict.

About Hamas-Israel War

He criticized Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal like Putin that should be punished and Israel is a criminal state that commits genocide worthy of being found guilty in an international court but he criticized some of the leftists in South Korea support Hamas. He said "Is this thoughtless siding with the far-right group Hamas really helpful in creating peace?"