Pak has conducted archaeological research on the northern provinces of China and Korean Peninsula. His research interests include Chinese archaeology, especially Bronze Age cultures in the northern frontiers of China; archaeology of northeast China; prehistoric and early historical archaeology of Korea; social complexity; cultural, ethnic, and gender identities; and relation between archaeology and contemporary societies.
Pak was a post-doctoral fellow at Korea Institute, Harvard University in 1995-1996 and a visiting scholar at Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China, in 2004–2005, and at Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, in 2008–2009. He has been a full-time faculty member of Department of Archaeology, Chungnam National University since 1997. Pak also served as vice president for International Affairs of Chungnam National University in 2005–2007. He has been President of the Society for East Asian Archaeology[2] since 2012. Pak is currently a visiting scholar at Harvard University.