School authorities said on Wednesday a Korean-American law professor was appointed the new dean of the Law School of Yale University, one of the most prestigious institutes of higher learning in the United States.

The university said Yale President Richard Levin announced that Harold Koh, whose Korean name is Koh Hong-ju, would be the Law School's next dean in an address to the school faculty the previous day.

The university said Koh, a 48-year-old international law scholar and human rights activist who has taught at the Law School since 1985, will begin his five-year term next July, succeeding Anthony Kronman, who will step down at that time.

Koh said it was "the greatest honor of my life" that he was named as new dean of the institution.

After graduating from Oxford and Harvard law schools, Koh served as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Justice in charge of human rights affairs before becoming a law professor.