1. On December 4, former Vice-President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Kwon O-gon was formally elected as next President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the 16th session of the Assembly, underway in New York from December 4 till 14.

※ President Kwon’s three-year term will begin on December 14 upon the closure of the session.

※ The ICC Assembly of States Parties, composed of 123 member states as of December 2017, is the ICC’s highest decision-making body authorized to oversee the election of judges and prosecutors, ICC operations, budget affairs, and the revision of the Rome Statute and the regulations regarding lawsuits.

2. In his remarks following his formal election, President Kwon brought attention to the fact that although it will have been twenty years in 2018 since the adoption of the Rome Statute, large-scale violations of human rights are still happening across the world and that the world has a long way to go before it can achieve its goal of ending impunity. He stressed that he will serve as a channel for mustering commitment of the international community to resolve the issue and will support and advance the ICC.

° President Kwon specifically spoke of his plan to guarantee the fairness of the ICC, communicate robustly with countries with complaints about the ICC and seek to step up cooperation between the ICC and countries.

※ On the heels of the election on December 4, the Republic of Korea and Senegal co-hosted a congratulatory reception at the ROK Permanent Mission to the UN, bringing together some 300 people, including the President of the ICC Assembly of States Parties Sidiki Kaba and ICC President Silvia Fernandez. The participants voiced hope that the first ICC judge-turned-President will contribute immensely to the development of the ICC.

3. The ICC is the first and only permanent international court established to punish individuals who have committed the gravest types of international crimes, such as genocides, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. During President Kwon’s service at the post, the ROK government plans to contribute further to the efforts to promote international criminal justice and safeguard and expand universal human rights.

° In particular, ahead of the 20th anniversary on July 17, 2018, of the adoption of the Rome Statute of the ICC, the service of President Kwon at the post is expected to help the ROK expand its diplomatic horizon in the field of international criminal affairs.

4. President Kwon will be the third ROK national to serve at the ICC’s key post after former ICC President Song Sang-hyun and Judge Chung Chang-ho. As can be seen from this, the ROK has continually contributed to the ICC activities since its founding.

° In addition, with the election of President Kwon, which came after that of Paik Jin-hyun as President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in October and Lee Byong-hyun as Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO in November, the ROK is expected to see its standing enhanced on the multilateral stage.


* unofficial translation