Career
His personal best time is 2:12:41 hours in 2007, winning the Pyongyang Marathon. He has represented North of Korea at the Summer Olympics on two occasions (2008 and 2012) and the 2010 Asian Games. Born in South Hwanghae Province, Pak"s first marathon race came at the Pyongyang Marathon in 2005.
Pak managed only sixth at the 2009 Pyongyang Marathon but he was entered into the men"s marathon at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and came 43rd with a time of 2:21:12.
He had a strong run at the 2010 Pyongyang race, running 2:14:09 – his fastest time since 2007. He ran at the 2010 Asian Games and was eighth in the marathon.
In his sole outing of 2011, he represented North of Korea at the 2011 World Military Games, finishing fifth. The 2012 Pyongyang Marathon was held as part of celebrations for the 100 years since Kim Il-sung"s birth and featured one of the race"s closest ever finishes: Pak recorded the same time as Oleksandr Matviychuk (2:12:54 hours), but it was the Ukrainian who topped the podium.
He was chosen to race at the Olympics for a second time and ended the 2012 Olympic men"s marathon in 52nd place.
He had his third fastest time of his career in Pyongyang in 2013, but managed only fourth place behind foreign opposition.