Sections of expressways across Korea were congested Thursday as people headed to their hometowns for family reunions on the first day of the Chuseok holiday period. This year’s holiday period marking the fall harvest runs from Thursday to Sunday. Traditionally, Koreans return to their hometowns during Chuseok to reunite with family members and pay respects at their ancestors’ graves. As of 2 p.m., travel time from Seoul to Busan was estimated at six hours and 40 minutes, five hours and 40 minutes to Daegu, five hours and 30 minutes to Gwangju, and three hours and 10 minutes to Daejeon, the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC) said. Travel time to Seoul was estimated to take five hours from Busan, four hours from Daegu, three hours and 20 minutes from Gwangju, and two hours and 10 minutes from Daejeon, according to the KEC. An estimated 6.16 million vehicles were expected to be on the road nationwide Thursday, including about 510,000 cars departing the greater Seoul area and 380,000 vehicles heading toward the capital from other regions.
