Byung Jin "BJay" Pak (born 1974) is a

Korean-American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

attorney and politician who served as the

United States attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

for the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions. Appeals from cases ...

from 2017 to 2021. Pak previously served as a member of the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...

as a Republican from 2011 to 2017.

Early life and education

Pak was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. His family emigrated to United States, residing in Apopka, Florida, when he was 9 years old. Pak is a graduate of Stetson University, where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

. He earned his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

, ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' and

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

, from the

University of Illinois College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law (Illinois Law or UIUC Law) is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public university in Champaign, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S. ...

. In law school, Pak was a Harno Scholar, served as the notes editor for the recent decisions section of the '' Illinois Bar Journal'', and was a member of the '' Elder Law Journal''. In 2013, he was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the University of Illinois College of Law.

Career

After graduation, he clerked for Richard Mills of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. Pak served in the

as a Republican from 2011 to 2017. After representing the 102nd District from 2011 to 2013 and the 108th District from 2013 to 2017, Pak opted not to run for re-election in the November 2016 election. Pak was previously a

federal prosecutor An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

. While serving as an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

, he led the prosecution of individuals who tried to steal

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily asc ...

s in order to sell them to

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

. Pak is Georgia's first

Asian-American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

U.S. Attorney, and he was the state's first Korean-American legislator.

United States Attorney

In July 2017, Pak was nominated by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

to become United States attorney for the

Northern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions. Appeals from cases ...

. He was confirmed for the position by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on September 28, 2017. On January 3, 2021, Trump called top Georgia state election officials, a call which was recorded and later released, and pressured them to help him "find" more votes in order to overturn the election of

president-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...

Biden. During the call, Trump referenced

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and Fulton counties of Georgia and referred to the " never-Trumper U.S. attorney there." Pak's district included those counties. Pak resigned the next day, citing "unforeseen circumstances."

Resignation

Pak resigned unexpectedly on January 4, 2021.

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

officials have declined to say whether Pak resigned voluntarily or was asked to do so. However, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' reported that Pak was forced to resign by senior

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

officials in the Trump administration for not investigating

false claims A false accusation is a claim or allegation of wrongdoing that is untrue and/or otherwise unsupported by facts. False accusations are also known as groundless accusations or unfounded accusations or false allegations or false claims. They can occur ...

election fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

"enough." Trump immediately replaced Pak with

Bobby Christine Bobby Lee Christine (born September 17, 1969) is an American attorney and former judge who was the United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia from 2017 to 2021. He briefly also served as the Ac ...

, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney from southern Georgia, bypassing top career prosecutor Kurt Erskine.politico.com
''Trump replaces U.S. attorney in Atlanta''
/ref> Christine also found no evidence of election fraud. The Justice Department inspector general opened an inquiry into Pak's departure. Pak told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August 2021 that top Justice Department officials had told him on January 3 that he would be fired by Trump if he did not say there had been widespread

voter fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

in Georgia; resigning would pre-empt a public dismissal. Pak has since returned to

private practice Private practice may refer to: *Private sector practice **Practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...

Alston & Bird Alston & Bird LLP is an international law firm with over 800 lawyers in 13 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the UK, and Asia. The firm provides legal services to both domestic and international clients who conduct business worldwide ...

www.alston.com
/ref>

References

External links

Biography at U.S. Attorney's Office
* georgia.gov
CV

Firm Bio
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pak, B. J. 1974 births 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Korean descent Assistant United States Attorneys Federalist Society members Asian-American people in Georgia (U.S. state) politics Living people Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Stetson University alumni United States Attorneys for the Northern District of Georgia University of Illinois College of Law alumni Asian conservatism in the United States