INTERPOL elects Kim Jong Yang as new President

Khudayar Mohla
ISLAMABAD, (TLTP): As many as 194 delegates attending Interpol’s general assembly on Wednesday elected Kim Jong Yang of the Republic of Korea as the Organization’s new President at Dubai.
Mr Kim will hold the post of President for two years until 2020. While the President is usually elected for a period of four years, Mr Kim is completing the mandate of former President Mr Meng Hongwei of China, who resigned in October 2018, stated in an official statement.
Two candidates for the slot were in the row including Russia’s Alexander Prokopchuk who has been alleged of using Interpol’s arrest warrant mechanism to target critics of the Kremlin.
In his maiden speech, Interpol President Kim said, “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 also pledged to ensure that the member countries most in need would receive the full support of Interpol’s range of policing capabilities.
The General Assembly democratically elects the President and other Executive Committee members on a ‘one country one vote’ basis with each vote carrying equal weight. The role of the President is to chair the General Assembly and three meetings of the Executive Committee each year. The Executive Committee’s role is to oversee the implementation of decisions made by the General Assembly.
The Assembly also elected six new members of the Executive Committee, the 13-member body that provides guidance and direction to the Organization. Delegates are generally appointed for three years and according to a balanced regional representation. The new members are: 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 voted to accept two new member countries, Kiribati and Vanuatu, bringing the total number of member countries to 194.