한국인 최초 인터폴 총재 탄생…김종양 전 경기경찰청장
Interpol has appointed a South Korean national as its president.
The decision was made after members rejected a Russian front-runner... amid accusations Moscow has been abusing the global investigative body.
Choi Si-young gets us up to speed with the developments.
On Wednesday, at its 87th session of the General Assembly in Dubai, Interpol's 194 member states elected Kim Jong-yang as the agency's new leader.
Russian candidate Alexander Prokopchuk was widely tipped to win the presidency,... but concerns from the United States and countries in Europe... that Russia may have abused the policy agency tipped the scale toward Kim.
Kim is the first Korean national to serve as the head of the investigative body.
Born in 1961 in South Korea, he passed the country's national civil service exam in 1985, assuming a managerial position at the government.
He rose to become chief of the Gyeonggi-do Provincial Police Agency in South Korea... one of most senior-ranked positions in South Korea's National Police Agency.
He then served as the vice-president of Interpol from 2015 to 2018.
Kim will cover the remaining 2 years left in former president Meng Hongwei's term,... who Beijing confirmed has been detained and investigated for allegedly taking bribes.
Headquartered in France, the international investigative body is governed by the general assembly... which meets once a year to draft policies and elect its president and executive committee members... on a one-country-one-vote basis, with each vote carrying equal weight.
Kim will now chair the General Assembly and Executive Committee sessions.
Choi Si-young, Arirang News.