Yesterday at 23:53
Photo from interpol.int
Beating a Russian national whose candidacy had raised concerns in Europe and the United States about the risk of rising Kremlin aggression and a worsening situation with political prisoners, South Korean representative Kim Jong-yang won the Interpol Presidential election to become the new head of the International Criminal Police Organization, which has the job of facilitating international police cooperation.
Today the final tally went in favor of Jong-yang who gained 62.3 percent of votes compared to Alexander Prokopchuk, the Russian representative, who had 37.7 percent of the vote. Prokopchuk had been accused of using Interpol’s arrest warrant system to target critics of the Kremlin.
“The representative of South Korea has been elected Interpol’s President. Russia’s candidature was rejected. This battle is won. Thank you all! Glory to Ukraine!” wrote Ukrainian Defense Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on Twitter today.
In total, 101 countries voted for the South Korean compared to 61 for the Russian.
The election follows the disappearance of Interpol’s former president Meng Hongwei, who vanished on a trip to China in September. Beijing has since confirmed he has been detained and is being investigated for allegedly taking bribes.
Kim was the senior vice-president of Interpol and had been serving as acting president since Meng’s disappearance. He will serve out the remaining two years of Meng’s term.
Moscow said Prokopchuk will remain an Interpol vice-president and “focus on strengthening the position of Interpol in the international police community and increasing the efficiency of the organization’s work.”
