He was reported missing after travelling from the city of Lyon in France, where Interpol is based, to China on 25 September. Meng, 64, who is also a senior Chinese security official, had more than 40 years’ experience in criminal justice. Interpol announced he resigned Sunday. After, Interpol appointed senior vice-president Kim Jong-yang of South Korea as acting president. A new president will be elected for the remaining two years of Mr Meng’s mandate at the general assembly in Dubai next month.
The knife emoji message
It is Interpol’s general secretariat that largely oversees the day-to-day work of the 192-member organisation, with the role of the president largely ceremonial. Until the statement from Beijing and the resignation, nothing had been seen or heard of Meng since shortly after he arrived in China on on 25 September. Mr Meng’s wife, Grace Meng, has told reporters that her husband sent her a knife emoji in a social media message on the day he went missing. “I’m not sure what has happened to him,” she said. Mr Hongwei was elected Interpol president in November 2016, the first Chinese to take up the post, and was scheduled to serve until 2020.
