S. Korea's acting president expected to designate snap presidential election date next week

SEOUL, April 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who is serving as acting president following former President Yoon Suk-yeol's ouster from office, was expected to designate the date of a snap presidential election next week, Yonhap news agency said Friday.

Han spoke by phone with chief of the National Election Commission (NEC) to discuss ways to hold the snap election after Yoon was removed from office with the constitutional court's ruling to uphold Yoon's impeachment motion by the National Assembly.

A possibility ran high for the acting president to decide the snap election date at the next cabinet meeting scheduled for April 8, according to Yonhap.

By law, the acting president is required to designate the date in 10 days and hold a snap election in 60 days after a president's ouster.

In this case, the deadline for the designation and the snap election falls on April 14 and June 3, respectively.

Yoon declared an emergency martial law on the night of Dec. 3 last year, but it was revoked by the opposition-led National Assembly hours later.

The impeachment motion against Yoon was passed in the parliament on Dec. 14 and he was indicted on Jan. 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection.