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Paek Nam-sun

North Korean diplomat (1929-2007)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 15, 2025
Entity authorityQ494061 ↗
Source-derived summary

Paek Nam-sun (Korean: 백남순; Korean pronunciation: [pɛŋ.nam.sun] or [pɛk̚] [nam.sun]; March 13, 1929 – January 2, 2007) was the North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1998 until his death. He was one of the few North Koreans to frequently be in the international spotlight.

Early life

Paek was born in Kilju County, North Hamgyong Province.

Education

Paek graduated from Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang.

Career

In 1968, Paek became vice director of the International Affairs Department of the Workers' Party of Korea. Paek participated in the first round of North-South Red Cross talks in 1972.

In 1974, Paek became the ambassador to Poland until 1979.

Paek also served on the Supreme People's Assembly from 1990 until the time of his death, having been elected to the 9th, 10th, and 11th sessions.

Personal life

His third son Paek Ryong-Chon became the president of the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 2011.

Death

Paek died on 2 January 2007 in Pyongyang.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Paek Nam-sun” is north Korean diplomat (1929-2007). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Paek, Nam-sun and North, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1929, 2007, 1998, 1968—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1929-03-13. For this dossier, Paek, Nam-sun and North is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “north Korean diplomat (1929-2007)” 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.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q494061. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 2007, 1998 and 1968.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. 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

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Paek Nam-sun”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Paek Nam-sun primary sources, Paek Nam-sun archive and Paek research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Paek Nam-sun”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Paek Nam-sun” 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.