South Korean attorney Paek Kee-bong was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday, becoming the third Korean judge on the court. Paek will serve a nine-year term from 2024 to 2033 at the ICC headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Six new judges were elected, comprising one-third of the court's total of 18 judges, during the annua.
Jung Gwang-il, a longtime human rights activist from North Korea, was surprised to hear the news on March 17 that the International Criminal Court (ICC) approved an arrest warrant for Russia s President Vladimir Putin for allegedly deporting Ukrainian children against their will following Moscow s invasion last year. As a North Korean escapee who has been trying to raise awareness of the horrendous rights violations under the North s regime over the last 20 years, Jung was astonished by the court s swift action against Putin ― the action it has not taken against North Korean rulers in spite of overwhelming evidence collected for decades.