(FILE)

Chinese judge Shi Jiuyong resigned from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the resignation will take effect from May 28. The UN Security Council decided on March 18 that an election to fill the vacancy on the ICJ would take place on June 29.

The ICJ, located in The Hague, the Netherlands, is the principal judicial organ of the UN.

Shi, 84, was elected to the ICJ in February 1994 and was reelected in February 2003. He was the first Chinese judge to serve as president of the ICJ, holding the post between February 2003 and February 2006.

With a Master's degree in international law from Columbia University in 1951, Shi had researched and taught international law at several institutes and universities in Beijing since 1956. He was also a legal advisor to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1980 and 1993.

Since the 1980s, Shi had been part of Chinese delegations participating in various international meetings and negotiations, including negotiations between the Chinese and British governments on Hong Kong. Shi was a member and chairman of the International Law Commission in 1990.