Colonel Yeong-Tae Pak joined the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in July 2011 as the Academic Chief of Staff/Senior Military Professor. Col. Pak entered military service being commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1983. His military education includes the Field Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Japanese Command and General Staff College, and the Senior Service College, Korean Institute for Defense Analyses Fellowship. He is also a graduate of the United States Joint Forces Staff College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Seminar XXI. He holds a Master’s degree in Asian Languages and Culture from the University of Kansas and a Master’s in Management from Troy State University.

Col. Pak has served in a variety of command and staff positions from battery to brigade. Some of the key positions he held are platoon leader and company executive officer in 2^nd Battalion 92^nd Field Artillery in Giessen, Germany. He commanded two battery commands, Brigade Fire Support Officer and Battalion as well as Division Artillery Executive Officer positions, all in the 2^nd Infantry Division, Korea. He was aide-de-camp to the Commander, United States Army Japan and Executive Officer to the Deputy Commander in Chief, Republic of Korea/United States Combined Forces Command. A graduate of both the Foreign Service Institute and Defense International Security Assistance Management courses, Col. Pak served as the Director of Operations, Policy, and Liaison in Joint United States Military Affairs Group (JUSMAG) and as the J5 Political-Military Officer in the United States Forces Korea.  Col. Pak also served as the G-3/5/7, Strategy, Plans and Policy, lead for the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review at the Pentagon. He also served as the Associate Director in the Defense Language Office of the Secretary of Defense. Col. Pak also was the Division Chief for the Army Current Operations and Contingency Plans in Pentagon, Washington DC. Last position he held was the Senior Defense Official/ Defense and Army Attaché to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

His awards and decorations include Defense Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Medal and both Airborne and Ranger badges. Col. Pak is fluent in both Korean and Japanese with basic knowledge in Chinese and Malay languages.