Park was born in Gongju, in the province of the Choong-cheong in 1973. He started playing baseball from the elementary school in the region he was born. At first, he wanted to be an athlete but he had a more talent in baseball. Then he was called by the baseball coach of his elementary school. From then, he played the baseball and he was famous for the speed ball in their ages. Park was a member of the 1992 and 1993 South Korea national baseball team. He was a sophomore at Hanyang University, Seoul in 1994 when he was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent.