Obiturary: The Hon. Judge Park Choon Ho
DILA mourns the loss of Judge Park Choon Ho who passed away on Wednesday 12 November 2008 after a brief battle with cancer. Judge Park had been associated with DILA since its earliest days and was a member of its Advisory Board.
Judge Park was born in Namwon, Korea on 15 April 1930 and was educated at the Seoul National University where he obtained a BA in political science. He then obtained a graduate diploma in applied linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in 1965, and a PhD in international law from the Law Faculty of the same institution.
After graduation, Judge Park worked as a research associate, first at the Harvard Law School (1972–1978), and then at the East-West Center in Hawaii (1978–1982). In 1982, he returned to Korea where he became Professor of International Law at Korea University, a post he held till 1995 when he became Professor of International Law at the Seinan Gakuin University in Japan. He retired in 2001. From 1997 to 2001, Judge Park was concurrently Distinguished Professor of International Law at the Graduate School of International Studies at Korea University.
Judge Park became fascinated by international law after studying the fisheries disputes between Korea and Japan and was a member of the Korean delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea as well as the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (1974–1995). In 1996, Judge Park was elected a member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He was re-elected for a second term in 2005.
At the time of his death, Judge Park was a member of the Institut de droit international; the editorial board of Marine Policy, Ocean and Shore-Line Management, and The Asian Review, as well as a member of DILA’s Advisory Board. From 1977 to 2000, he was a member of the editorial board of Ocean Development and International Law.
In 1989, Judge Park was conferred the prestigious Distinguished Scholarship Award (Social Sciences) by the Academy of Sciences in Korea. In 1998, his alma mater, University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary Doctor of Law degree.
Judge Park was laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, 160km south of Seoul on 16 November 2008. The Governing Board of DILA sends its condolences and heartfelt sympathies to his family.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.