BRUSSELS (Kyodo) -- The International Court of Justice said Monday it has elected its judge from Japan as chief of The Hague-based tribunal following the resignation of Nawaf Salam in January.

Yuji Iwasawa, who began working as an ICJ judge in June 2018, will serve as president through Feb. 5, 2027, taking over the term of Lebanon's Salam, who left the post after being appointed his country's next prime minister by President Joseph Aoun.

Prior to joining the court, Iwasawa served as a professor of international law at the University of Tokyo and chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Committee. The 70-year-old became the second Japanese to have taken the court's top post, following Hisashi Owada, the father of Empress Masako, from 2009 to 2012.

The 15-judge court is the main U.N. justice organ, tasked with helping resolve international disputes such as those involving borders and issuing advisory opinions at the request of the General Assembly and other U.N. entities.