The International police (Interpol) has elected Kim Jong-yang of South-Korea as its new president, according to the Interpol body.
Mr. Jong-yang, who had been serving as acting president, was elected for a two-year term at the body's annual congress in Dubai on Wednesday, 21st November 2018 finishing the four-year term of his predecessor who was arrested in China this year.
"Our world is now facing unprecedented changes which present huge challenges to public security and safety," Jong-yang told Interpol's general assembly, according to the agency's Twitter handle.
"To overcome them, we need a clear vision: we need to build a bridge to the future."It's noteworthy that Mr. Jong-yang, 57, worked in the South Korean police for more than 20 years before retiring in 2015.
South Korea's President, Mr. Moon Jae-in congratulated Mr. Jong-yang on becoming the first South Korean to head the revered global organisation.
"We're very proud. I, together with our people, am sending congratulations," Jae-in wrote on his Twitter handle.
The South Korean's election is a blow to Moscow's efforts to reserve the position for a Russian candidate, Mr. Alexander Prokopchuk.
The United States, Britain and other European nations rejected Prokopchuk's candidature saying his election would lead to further Russian abuses of Interpol's red notice system to go after political opponents and fugitive dissidents.
Following the vote on Wednesday, the Kremlin said that clear outside pressure had been exerted on the election, though it did not see any factors that would render the process illegitimate; the Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
