Traffic eases on 1st night of Chuseok as people head home

Traffic conditions along major highways in South Korea improved significantly on the first day of the Chuseok holiday on Thursday evening, as millions of people began their journey home to reunite with their families. This year's Chuseok holiday, which marks the harvest season, spans from Thursday to Sunday, encouraging traditional family reunions and ancestral visits.

According to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC), travel time from Seoul to Busan had dropped to approximately 4 hours and 40 minutes by 7 p.m., a reduction from previous estimates. Similar improvements were noted on routes to Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon, with travel durations ranging from three to four hours. The KEC reported that around 6.16 million vehicles were anticipated to be traveling nationwide on the first day of the holiday, including more than 510,000 cars departing the Seoul metropolitan area and approximately 380,000 vehicles making the trip from other regions to Seoul.