Interpol names new president at General Assembly

Kim Jong Yang of the Republic of Korea has been elected the new president of Interpol, a network of police forces from 194 countries around the world.

Kim has served as Interpol’s Vice President for Asia since 2015 and was the head of Interpol’s National Central Bureau in Seoul from 2011 to 2012. He will serve as president for the next two years through 2020. While typically a four-year term, Kim is replacing former President Meng Hongwei of China, who resigned in October 2018.

“Our world is now facing unprecedented changes which present huge challenges to public security and safety. To overcome them, we need a clear vision: we need to build a bridge to the future,” Kim said, pledging to ensure that the member countries most in need would receive the full support of Interpol’s range of policing capabilities.

Kim was elected at Interpol’s General Assembly last week in Dubai. The General Assembly elects the president and other executive committee members with each country getting one vote.

“Mr. Kim has many years’ experience of our governance, and I look forward to working with him to give our membership the best possible support in this dynamic and changing global security environment,” Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock said.

Six new members were elected to the 13-member executive committee. They included Néstor Roncaglia of Argentina (vice president for the Americas); Destino Pedro of Angola (delegate for Africa); Gilles Michaud of Canada (delegate for the Americas); Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi of the United Arab Emirates (delegate for Asia); Noboru Nakatani of Japan (delegate for Asia); and Jannine van den Berg of the Netherlands (delegate for Europe).

The General Assembly also accepted two new member countries, Kiribati and Vanuatu. The total number of member countries is now 194.