Park Choon-ho, a South Korean scholar known as the pioneer of Asian maritime law, died Wednesday at his home in Seoul after a battle with cancer, Yonhap News reported Wedensday. He was 78.
Park, who holds a doctorate in international law from the University of Edinburgh, has been serving as a judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea since October 1996.
"We admire his lofty, lifetime accomplishment in the field of maritime law," Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said in a statement.
Park will be laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, some 160km south of Seoul, after a funeral Sunday.
He had been housebound for several months, apparently due to infirmity, according to ministry officials.