Asia News Wrap: South Korea announces snap election, and more

Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

South Korea sets election date for June 3

South Korea on Tuesday set June 3 for a snap presidential election, triggered by last week's removal from office of impeached leader Yoon Suk-yeol. "The government intends to designate June 3 as the 21st presidential election day," Acting President Han Duck-soo told a cabinet meeting. South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and Han Dong-hoon, a former leader of South Korea's ruling People Power Party have already declared their bids for the presidency on Thursday.

China’s Shenzhou-19 crew to return around May 1

China’s Shenzhou-19 crew plans to return to Earth around May 1, China Media Group reported on Monday. The crew – Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze – has stayed in the China Space Station for over 150 days, carrying out a series of scientific experiments and tests. The Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on October 30, 2024.

Volcano erupts in central Philippines

An explosive eruption rocked Mount Kanlaon in central Philippines on Tuesday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. "An explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent of Kanlaon that began at 5:51 a.m. on Tuesday," Ma. Antonia Bornas, the institute's volcano monitoring and eruption prediction division chief, said in a radio interview. In an advisory, the institute said the eruption "is producing a voluminous bent plume approximately 4,000 meters tall drifting southwest.” "Pyroclastic density currents descended the slopes on the general southern edifice," the institute added. The institute and netizens posted videos of the erupting volcano spewing a voluminous plume.

Indonesia’s rupiah hits record low, central bank to intervene

Indonesia’s central bank will act boldly to maintain rupiah stability by intervening in the markets, a deputy governor said on Wednesday after the rupiah hit a record low against the dollar.

Bank Indonesia's (BI) senior deputy governor Destry Damayanti told Reuters that moves in domestic bonds on Wednesday indicated that investors still had confidence in the sovereign bond market. The rupiah hit an all-time low of 16,970 per dollar on Wednesday morning. Destry said currencies were weaker on the day because of the escalating global trade war.

India not to raise petrol, diesel retail prices despite tax hike

India’s Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday that the country's raised excise duty on petrol and diesel will not be passed on to consumers, a move that would boost the government's tax collection amid falling global oil prices.

The hike in c would be absorbed by state-controlled fuel retailers and will not be passed on to consumers, Puri said at a press conference. Higher tax collection from the state-owned and the private fuel retailers would help New Delhi partly compensate state companies that incurred a loss of 413.80 billion rupees ($4.83 billion) in 2024/25 on local sales of cooking gas at below market rates, he said.

(Cover: South Koreans watch opposition leader Lee Jae-myung announcing his presidential bid in Seoul, South Korea. April 10, 2025. /CFP)