Japan will field former Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations Hisashi Owada as a candidate judge in the 2002 election for the U.N. International Court of Justice, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.
Owada, who is president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs and the father of the Crown Princess, was officially endorsed Monday by an advisory panel to the foreign minister for his expertise in international law and long diplomatic experience, Vice Foreign Minister Yutaka Kawashima said.
If elected, Owada will be the third Japanese to serve as an ICJ judge after Shigeru Oda, a judge who plans to retire after his current nine-year term expires in early 2003. The ICJ is based in The Hague and consists of 15 judges.
The government will be asking the governments of other countries to support Owada in the election, which will be held in autumn 2002 at the U.N. General Assembly and the U.N. Security Council, Kawashima said.