Key facts
- The Nuremberg trials established war of aggression as the supreme international crime.
- Japan supports the International Criminal Court but has not accepted expanded jurisdiction.
Eighty years ago this October, judges in Courtroom 600 in Nuremberg, Germany, handed down a judgment that established a fundamental principle of international criminal justice: Starting a war of aggression was not merely an international crime, but "the supreme international crime." The Nuremberg Forum 2026, held on October 7, featured a keynote address by Claus Kress, a professor at the University of Cologne and a special adviser to the International Criminal Court (ICC). While Japan backs the ICC, it has stopped short of accepting expanded jurisdiction over war crimes.
