Korea takes on the challenge of producing judges for the first ever International Court of Justice

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Min Seon-hee = Korea will attempt to produce its first ever Korean judge in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judge election in November.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 26th, the Korean candidate is Baek Jin-hyeon, former head of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Former Director Baek served as an ITLOS judge from 2009 to 2023, and served as Director from 2017 to 2020.

The ICJ is the main judicial body of the United Nations, resolving legal disputes between countries and providing advisory opinions on legal issues upon requests from the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council.

Its jurisdiction and nature are different from ITLOS, which deals with disputes over the interpretation and application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which investigates and tries individuals suspected of serious international crimes such as genocide and war crimes.

Korea has been involved in ITLOS and the ICC from the beginning and has produced judges, but has not yet entered the ICJ, which was established in 1945.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that Korea only joined the United Nations in 1991, and long-standing practices such as allocating seats by region were formed in the meantime.

However, competition is fierce from the first challenge. In the election scheduled to be held on November 3, candidates from eight countries, including Korea, will compete for the five seats whose terms expire.

Although the regulations do not specify seats for each region, considering regional distribution practices, Korea, Singapore, and Jordan are competing for one seat that is expected to go to Asia.

It is known that these positions have been distributed largely in Asia to Southwest Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

The competing candidates are also formidable. Jordan's Mahmoud Daifala Hmoud is a sitting ICJ judge who is running for re-election. He served as chairman of the International Law Commission (ILC) and served as an ambassador to the United Nations for many years.

In particular, considering the fact that incumbent judges rarely fail in re-election, he is evaluated as a candidate with the so-called ‘incumbency premium’.

Singapore nominated Lena Lee, Ambassador for International Law, as its candidate. Ambassador Lee led the negotiations for about five years as the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference on Bilateral Marine Biological Diversity (BBNJ) Negotiations and gained recognition on the international stage.

The fact that Singapore has a regional base in ASEAN and that Ambassador Lee is a relatively young female candidate in her 50s is also considered an advantage in the election.

On the other hand, in the case of Korea, the lack of a clear regional base from which to expect support, such as the Middle East, the Arab world, or ASEAN, is considered a weakness.

Former Director Baek's strengths include his experience as an ITLOS judge for 14 years and his high international reputation that resulted from that experience.

He is currently a professor emeritus at Seoul National University, an advisor to the International Law Center of the National Diplomatic Academy, and is also the only Korean lifetime member of the International Institute of Law (IDI).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that it is difficult to predict the outcome of the election because not only the capabilities of individual candidates and the intentions of individual countries, but also regional competition and variables in the actual voting process play a complex role.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “The candidate himself also contested this election with the determination to fulfill his final calling under the recognition that it would not be an easy election.”

The government has so far supported candidates' support negotiation activities. On the 14th, a promotional event was held for the diplomatic corps in Korea, presided over by Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, “Our international legal status is improving and we have a large pool of experts to represent, so we decided that it was time to give it a try,” adding, “It will not be an easy election, but we will do our best.”