Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

There has been some confusion about the differences between the Permanent Court of Arbitration or PCA in The Hague - the arbitral tribunal which heard Manila's case about the South China Sea issue - and the International Court of Justice at the United Nations.

Former International Court of Justice judge Abdul Gadire Koroma explains that these organs are all totally different.

The United Nations has clarified its relationship with the PCA. It posted on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo that the arbitral tribunal, established in 1899, has nothing to do with the UN.

It is currently a tenant of the Peace Palace in the Hague, which was built in 1913 from a donation made by steel magnate and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie.

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the UN. The ICJ has had its seat in the Peace Palace in The Hague since 1946.