Pak Noja
Russian-born South Korean historian
Vladimir Tikhonov (Russian: Влади́мир Миха́йлович Ти́хонов, romanized: Vladimir Mikhaylovich Tikhonov; born on February 5, 1973), known mainly by his Korean art name Pak Noja (Korean: 박노자), is a Russian and Korean activist, historian, Koreanist, and writer.
Biography
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.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Pak Noja” is russian-born South Korean historian. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Noja, Russian-born and South, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “russian-born South Korean historian” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q490333. VIAF identifies the subject as 50612344. The Library of Congress control number is no2011015840. 6 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1997, 2001 and 1991.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Pak Noja”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Pak Noja primary sources, Pak Noja archive and Noja research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Pak Noja”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Pak Noja” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.