National Police Agency Hosts International Fingerprint Examination Competition... Kim Heungju of Gangwon Provincial Police Takes First Place Domestically

The National Police Agency announced on the 24th that a total of 299 participants from 58 countries took part in the 2nd International Fingerprint Examination Competition (IFEC), which was co-hosted with Interpol.

This competition, where fingerprint examination experts from around the world compete in their skills, was held online with simultaneous access at 4:00 p.m. on September 30. In Korea, 123 people participated, including police forensic investigators, general police officers, the Korea Coast Guard, and graduate students in forensic science. From overseas, 176 participants from 57 countries joined, including 16 countries in Asia, 14 in Europe, 10 in Africa, 9 in Central and South America, 5 in the Middle East, 2 in North America, and 1 in Oceania.

A total of 20 questions were presented in the competition. Participants were required to find the fingerprint matching the question from a set of options. Scores were awarded based on the points assigned to each question, but if an incorrect answer was given, 50% of the assigned points were deducted to enhance the accuracy of the assessment.

After fierce competition, Kim Heungju, Detective Sergeant of the Forensic Science Division at Gangwon Provincial Police Agency, took first place in the domestic category. The second place went to Koo Hwarang, Detective Sergeant of the Forensic Science Division at Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency, and third place was awarded to Lim Dabin, fingerprint examination specialist at the Forensic Science Analysis Division of the National Police Agency.

In the international category, Nachanan Songsom of the Royal Thai Police Forensic Science Bureau claimed first place. Ann-Kathrin Feucht of the German Federal Criminal Police Office and Lee Jaeyeon of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in the United States won second and third place, respectively.

Chara Kouber, Interpol’s Chief Fingerprint Examiner who co-organized the competition, said, “This meaningful competition with differentiated value provided an excellent opportunity to actively share the expertise of fingerprint examiners worldwide and to strengthen international cooperation.”

The awards ceremony for the winners is scheduled to be held at the International CSI Conference on November 18 at the Science and Technology Convention Center in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Park Woohyun, Director of Forensic Science at the National Police Agency, who supervised this event, stated, “We will continue to widely promote the excellence of Korean forensic science to the world and further develop this into an international competition through close collaboration with Interpol and the International Association for Identification (IAI).”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.