View source for Pak Nam-gi

{{Short description|North Korean politician (1934–2010)}}
{{Infobox Korean name
|img=Pak Nam-gi.jpg
|caption=
|hangul=박남기
|hanja=朴南基
|context=north
|mr=Pak Namgi
|rr=Bak Namgi
}}
{{family name hatnote|Pak||lang=Korean}}
'''Pak Nam-gi''' or '''Park Nam-ki''' (21 February 1934 – 17 March 2010) was, until as late as January 2010,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=6133|title=Park Nam Ki Arrested for Currency Debacle: sources|date=17 March 2010|publisher=[[Daily NK]]|access-date=20 March 2010}}</ref> Director of the Planning and Finance Department of the [[Workers' Party of Korea|ruling party]] of [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|North Korea]]. There are doubts about his date of birth, with at least two unattributed sources<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.piks.or.tv/person/person/paknamgi.htm |title=(Japanese language source) |access-date=18 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928160055/http://www.piks.or.tv/person/person/paknamgi.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://yisunshin.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-hangs-with-kim-jong-il.html|title=Who Hangs With Kim Jong-il|date=14 April 2009 |access-date=20 March 2010}}</ref> reporting it as 21 February 1934 or sometime in 1928 respectively.
In March 2010, it was reported by news agencies including Yonhap,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2010/03/18/0401000000AEN20100318004400315.HTML|title=N. Korean technocrat executed for bungled currency reform: sources|date=March 18, 2010|publisher=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |access-date=2010-03-18}}</ref> Bloomberg,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/03/03/2010030300293.html|title=Kim Jong-il 'Suffers Depression'|publisher=[[The Chosun Ilbo]], English edition|date=3 March 2010|access-date=18 March 2010}}</ref> and The Guardian<ref>{{cite news|title=North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/18/north-korean-executed-currency-reform|work=The Guardian|date=18 March 2010 | location=London | first=Tania | last=Branigan}}</ref> 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 ''[[The Guardian|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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-koreans-dare-to-protest-as-devaluation-wipes-out-savings-1833156.html |archive-url=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 |archive-date=2022-05-24 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=North Koreans dare to protest as devaluation wipes out savings|work=The Independent|date=3 December 2009 | location=London | first=David | last=McNeill}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7066576.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811115811/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7066576.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 11, 2011|title=North Korean official Pak Nam-ki executed for disastrous currency reform|date=18 March 2010|publisher=Times Online|access-date=18 March 2010 | location=London}}</ref> Following his execution, Pak was subsequently [[Damnatio memoriae|edited out of various official films and photographs]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2918364 | title=Top official edited out of North Korea news films | date=25 March 2010 }}</ref>
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,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/24/death_by_firing_squad_in_north_korea|title=Death by firing squad in North Korea?|publisher=Foreign Policy|date=24 December 2012|access-date=10 March 2017|archive-date=22 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141122144921/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/24/death_by_firing_squad_in_north_korea|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Ri Je-gang]], the former First Deputy Head of the [[Organization and Guidance Department of the Workers' Party of Korea|WPK Organization and Guidance Department]], says Pak Nam-gi was executed by firing squad in the course of a reactionary purge in 2010.<ref name="report 2012">{{cite web|title=Secret Report Throws Light on N.Korean Purges|url=http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/11/27/2012112701388.html|access-date=1 November 2012|date=Nov 27, 2012 <!-- 13:23 KST --> }}</ref>
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".<ref>Alastair Gale (12 December 2013), [https://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2013/12/13/what-north-korea-said-about-jang-song-thaek/ What North Korea Said About Jang Song Thaek] ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''</ref>
== See also ==
* [[North Korean won#2009 revaluation|2009 North Korean currency devaluation]]
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pak, Nam-gi}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Executed politicians]]
[[Category:Finance ministers of North Korea]]
[[Category:People executed by North Korea by firing squad]]
[[Category:Executed North Korean people]]
[[Category:21st-century executions by North Korea]]
[[Category:People executed for treason against North Korea]]
[[Category:Workers' Party of Korea politicians]]
[[Category:Government ministers of North Korea]]
[[Category:People from South Hwanghae Province]]
[[Category:People from Haeju]]
{{NorthKorea-politician-stub}}