Okkyung Park is an author / researcher based in Montreal.
She holds a Ph. D degree in Social Anthropology from University Laval, Quebec, Canada (1986).

Pak has written numerous articles on social issues and lately a book on Jeju Island Women Divers with a Grant from Fondation culturelle Barbier-Muller, in Switzland (2018).
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She did her first anthropological field work among the matrilineal Minangkabau people of West Sumatra of Indonesia (1980-81).

She has published widely on the subject of inequality, gender relations, kinship system and land tenure system in West Sumatra. Some of her articles are "The enigma of male ancestors among the Matrilineal Minangkabau of West Sumatra", in Nicole-Claude Mathieu (ed), A House without a Daughter is a Dead House: Person and Gender in matrilineal and\or Uxorilocal Societies (in French), 2006, Paris: Editions de l'Herne; "The Minangkabau house of Sumatra, Indonesia", In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World (ed. Paul Olivier), Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. University", 1997; Resourcefulness without resources: life history of a landless Minangkabau village woman", South Asian Journal of Social Science (Singapore), vol.24(1), 1996; "Kingship and kinship in Minangkabau, Indonesia" (in French), l'Homme, 1993, XXXIII (1), Paris.

Upon finishing her doctoral degree, Ms. Pak has worked with the Canadian Federal Government for 20 years; first in the Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration, then at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in the capacity of a Senior Social Development and Gender Equality Advisor.

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She has travelled widely around the world (Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Salvador, Ecuador, Chili, Cambodia, Thailand, China - some of these monitoring reports are available upon request) during her years at CIDA, monitoring and evaluating development projects for CIDA. She is retired from CIDA in 2010.

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She has also worked with the Teamsters Canada -Truck Drivers' Union, establishing a policy against sexual harassment.

Prior to joining the Canadian Federal Government, she taught briefly at Concordia University and worked as a Research Associate at Université Laval, with a research project – “Integration of (Korean) immigrants in Montreal”.