Podcast: Professor Harold Hongju Koh Still Believes in International Law
Sterling Professor of International Law Harold Hongju Koh sat down with Dean Heather K. Gerken this spring for the “Inside Yale Law School” podcast. Koh discusses how his family history is intertwined with the Law School, his time as Dean, and how he expanded the school’s focus on international law. Plus, he talks about his Taylor Swift reading group and why his ideal job is being third-base coach of the Boston Red Sox.
Harold Hongju Koh has served as the 22nd Legal Adviser at the State Department, represented Ukraine at the World Court, and is one of the country’s leading experts in public and private international law, national security law, and human rights. He was Dean of Yale Law School from 2004 to 2009.
His family history and Yale Law School (4:24)
Koh’s father was Korea’s acting ambassador to the United States when the Korean government was overthrown in 1961. Koh discusses his father’s pivotal meeting with deputy national security advisor Walt Rostow:
“At the end of the discussion, [Rostow] says to my father, by the way, what are you doing now? My father said, well I'm exiled, I'm unemployed, and I have six children. And Rostow said, don't you teach law? My brother is the dean of Yale Law School. Let me give him a call… And a week later, each of us carrying one suitcase got on the train, and we came here. And 40 years later, I was dean of Yale Law School. That’s an American story.”
Read more:
In 2006 on NPR, Koh reflected on how his family’s history shaped his views of law and human rights.
This I Believe: The Bright Lights of Freedom
The New Haven School of international law (28:20)
Koh is a renowned scholar of international law and part of the “New Haven School” of international law. He has represented Ukraine in its suit against Russia at the International Criminal Court:
“We're celebrating this year the 50th anniversary of the Yale Journal of International Law. That's the basic idea that international lawyers promote world public order based on a concept of protecting human dignity… So a piece of that is, if Russia invades Ukraine, are we just going to sit there and let it happen?”
Read more:
Professor Koh Asks International Court of Justice to Decide Ukraine’s Suit Against Russia
Commentary: Where is the International Law We Believed in Ukraine?
Taylor Swift and teaching (35:41)
Koh continues to enjoy teaching and sponsored a reading group on Taylor Swift during the spring 2024 semester. Reading groups are student-designed courses that focus on topics outside the regular curriculum.
“The students are now younger than my children, but it's a joy. You find out what they're excited about. They're excited about Taylor Swift… So we now have a Taylor Swift reading group... But the one thing I told them was, we're going to call this ‘The Law and Management of Global Fame.’ So they changed that to ‘#Global Fame, Taylor's Version.’”
Read more:
