The choice of South Korea’s Kim Jong Yang to head the international police organization comes as a blow to Russia, whose candidate to had been seen as the front-runner in the race.
Interpol members elected South Korea’s Kim Jong Yang as the organization’s new president on Wednesday, voting against a Russia-backed front-runner in the race.
Kim was the organization’s acting president, a role he took on in September after Interpol’s previous chief, Meng Hongwei, went missing in China.
Chinese authorities said Meng had been detained on corruption charges. He supposedly resigned from his role in absentia.
Kim will preside over the organization until the end of Meng’s term in 2020.
The candidacy of Interpol Vice President Alexander Prokopchuk had led many international critics to call upon Interpol not to promote him, as his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen as a threat for the organization.