AKIPRESS.COM - Interpol has elected South Korean Kim Jong-yang as its president, rejecting the Russian frontrunner who had been accused of abusing the international police body's arrest warrant system, BBC reports.

Mr Kim was chosen by Interpol's 194 member states at a meeting of its annual congress in Dubai.

He beat Russia's Alexander Prokopchuk, who had been widely tipped to win.

But there was growing concern that Mr Prokopchuk would use the role to target critics of Russia's President Putin.

Moscow said Mr Prokopchuk would continue to serve as an Interpol vice-president and help strengthen the organisation's "position in the international police community". On Tuesday, it hit back at what it called a "campaign aimed at discrediting" the Russian candidate.