Pak was born as Vladimir Tikhonov to Russian Jewish family in Leningrad, Soviet Union.

[3] In his 16th year, 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 and stayed in Seoul for about 3 months.

While working on his degree, in 1992, Pak met a Korean violinist, Paik Myong-jong (백명정, 1971- ) who was at that time studying at the Leningrad University of Russia; they married in 1995.

In his column in the Hankyoreh, he argued, "The courage that Ukrainian citizens are demonstrating in their struggle against aggression will long provide inspiration for Russians, too!"

[12] He criticized Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal like Putin that should be punished and Israel is a criminal state that commits genocide worthy of being found guilty in an international court[citation needed] but he criticized some of the leftists in South Korea support Hamas.