Seoul Nat`l Univ. Professor Song Elected to Judgeship of the ICC

Seoul National University law professor Song Sang-hyun (61, photo) will be the first member of the opening International Criminal Court (ICC). Song is officially appointed to the judicial post of the court.

In the vote for the ICC judgeship, which took place on February 4th at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Song won the approval of 63 countries out of the 85 participant nations. Along with him, 5 other judges were elected. The ICC will be presided by 18 judges, who will sit on bench for 3, 6 or 9 years. The term of each judge is determined by lot.

Song said, "I will do my best to practice the humanism and contribute to the world peace."

The ICC was founded on July 1st, 2002 and is the first international criminal tribunal in kind. The international community has established it to punish individual criminals who commit genocide, inhuman crimes and war crimes.

Kwon Oh-gon, a senior high court judge, has been elected to the 14-member International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and still serves in the court.

Kwan-Hee Hong konihong@donga.com