Paek Nam-un (Korean: 백남운; 11 February 1894 – 12 June 1979) was a Korean economist, educator, and political activist during the Japanese colonial period and later a politician in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. As a professor of economics at Yeonhee College, he was a leading socialist theorist and applied Marxist principles to Korean history to counter the official narrative of the Japanese colonial government. Along with his colleague Lee Soon-Tak, he was a prominent figure among anti-colonial intellectuals. After Korea's liberation in 1945, Paek became a leader in the Nam Joseon New Democratic Party and advocated for a "New Democracy" through a broad "National Unification Front" that would unite various political parties and social classes. In April 1948, Paek traveled to North Korea for a unification conference and remained there permanently. He subsequently held several high-ranking posts in the new government, serving as North Korea's first Minister of Education from 1948 to 1956 and later as Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly from 1967 to 1972.
Source: “Paek Nam-un”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt