[2] In modern South Korea, he is regarded as one of the Five Eulsa Traitors who betrayed the country into Japanese domination in 1905.

Pak was born in Yongin, outside Seoul where his father was a minor government official and supporter of Kim Yunsik.

[3] On October 16, 1910, Pak received the kazoku peerage title of Viscount (shishaku) from the Japanese government and a seat in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan.

On December 6, 1910, one Korean Army soldier attempted to shoot Pak as he was entering the palace.

Pak fled to the Japanese Legation, where he blamed Deputy Ambassador Hayashi Gonsuke for "making [him] a traitor to [his] own country".