Chuseok holiday travel causes major road congestion across South Korea

SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Major roads and expressways were congested across South Korea on Saturday, the third day of the Chuseok holiday, as people began heading back to their home after visiting their hometowns.

As of 9 a.m., travel times to Seoul from the southeastern city of Busan were estimated at seven hours, six hours and 40 minutes from Mokpo, six hours from Daegu, and five hours and 20 minutes from the southwestern city of Gwangju, according to the Korea Expressway Corp.

Trips from Seoul to Busan were expected to take five hours and 10 minutes, four hours and 10 minutes to Daegu, and three hours and 20 minutes to Gwangju.

This year's holiday for Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, runs from Thursday to Sunday. The holiday is marked by visits to hometowns, family reunions, ancestral rites and traditional holiday foods.

Expressways heading to Seoul began being clogged early Saturday, but traffic in the opposition direction somewhat eased.

The state-run company said congestion was expected to peak between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. and ease between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Sunday.

An estimated 5.9 million vehicles were expected to travel on roads nationwide Saturday, including about 380,000 leaving the greater Seoul area and 520,000 heading toward the capital area from other regions.