Park Choong-kwon
Park Choong-kwon (Korean: 박충권) is a South Korean member of parliament. He used to work as a ballistic missile researcher for North Korea and defected to South Korea at age 23. He grew up during the 1990s famine but learned about the outside world from smuggled South Korean TV shows and by studying in China. The day after North Korea launched its first ICBM in April 2009—the weapon he helped build—he began his escape, crossing the Tumen River after spending about 10 million won. He entered South Korea with an official passport, settled in quickly, and was accepted into Seoul National University to pursue a PhD in materials science and engineering. He later worked at Hyundai Steel before entering politics.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:05 (CET).