Seoul: Traffic in South Korea is starting to get heavy on the first day of the Lunar New Year festival. Traffic on major highways across South Korea has been getting heavier since Saturday as large numbers of people begin traveling back to their hometowns to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
According to Thai News Agency, South Korea is preparing to celebrate its important annual festival, known as "Seollal," this coming Tuesday. The long holiday will run from this weekend until Wednesday. As of 8:00 AM today (6:00 AM Thailand time), the Korea Expressway Authority reported that travel from Seoul to Busan, a southeastern port city approximately 330 kilometers away, is expected to take 6 hours and 50 minutes.
For travel to Gwangju, a city in the southwest located approximately 260 kilometers from the capital, the expected travel time is around 4 hours and 20 minutes. Traffic congestion exiting Seoul is anticipated to be at its peak between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM, before gradually easing between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM.
Conversely, travel times to Seoul remain shorter, with journeys from Busan expected to take approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes, and from Gwangju around 3 hours and 20 minutes. The Expressway Authority estimates that the total volume of vehicles nationwide on Saturday will reach 4.85 million, of which approximately 460,000 will be traveling out of the Seoul metropolitan area and 370,000 will be heading towards Seoul.