Students and the advising professor who received the grand prize at the 8^th International Humanitarian Law Moot (from the left, student coach Sangchan Lee, Researcher Joshua, Professor John Shin, student Eunhae Kang, and student Eunhae Lee)

The team consisted of Eunhae Kang, Eunhae Lee, and Joshua received the grand prize at the 8^th International Humanitarian Law Moot which was held at the School of Law, of Seoul National University. This team received the Best Proceedings Prize because of their previous defense document.

The completion was co-hosted by the Korean Red Cross, the Common Interest Human Rights Law Center of Seoul National University, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Justice. Four teams, including Handong Global University, made it into the final round and competed fiercely.

The competition was held to reaffirm the importance of humanitarian law using the legal approach. It also helped focus on disputes about the application of humanitarian issues that occur in an armed conflict, like war. In particular these issues were addressed: cultural heritage protection, direct attack on civilians, indirect torture from the damage made by forced transportation, and assassination during armed conflicts.

The prize winners dealt with crimes related to cultural heritage protection, the justice of armed attack on the targets situated in civilians’ shelter, the obligatory fault laid on the commander in chief of the armed forces.

In the final competition, the issue the actions of the commander in chief led to death. Suffering by the people or civilians who are protected under the law, can this be considered a crime or not. The team from Sungkyungkwan University served in the role of prosecutors, and stressed the ultimate results of the action. The team from Handong, served as the defense. They pleaded that the interpretation of intention regarding the action of the commander in chief was the more important factor.

The Advisor of the International Humanitarian Law Moot, Professor John T. Shin, of the Department of Law, stressed the importance of global law education. He said, “This is the expected result since the students of Handong have international competitiveness due to learning international law and American Law in English. I really appreciate their important talents on behalf of South Korea to prepare for a unified Korea. This will be the venue for international issues such as nuclear security and human rights.” He added, “We received the grand prize. Never-the-less the genuine victory was by the grace and mercy of God who granted the ability to prepare for the competition. Therefore, we do not consider this result as ours. God gave us the victory in order to show His glory not our ability or competency. We were already winners who have received the reward from Jesus by the grace of God, before this result.”

The team will have the privilege to compete in the 15^th Asia Pacific Area International Humanitarian Law Moot as the representative of Korea next March, in Hong Kong. All the expenses will be funded by the Korean Red Cross. According to Sangchan Lee, the student coach, “It will be our pleasure to show our preparation competency in Hong Kong, the hub of international law.”

Eunhae Kang mentioned, “It was a great experience to accumulate professional knowledge in international humanitarian law. However, it was more significant that I felt and met God who gave me comfort and recovery during every difficult moment. I hope that during the inevitable armed forces situation, more marginalized people can be protected by the international community due to the dissemination of international humanitarian law. “

링크 공유