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Highways congested nationwide on Chuseok holiday

Published: 06 Oct. 2025, 09:59

South-bound lanes on Gyeongbu Expressway are seen jammed up near Jamwon Interchange in southern Seoul on Oct.3, the first day of the public Chuseok holiday. [NEWS1]

Heavy traffic built up on major roads and expressways across Korea on Monday as people traveled to their hometowns or returned home during the Chuseok holiday.

Chuseok, the Korean fall harvest festival, falls on Monday this year and runs for three days. Many Koreans are enjoying an extended holiday from last Friday through this Thursday, as the holiday falls between two other public holidays: National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day, which marks the creation of the Korean alphabet.

As of 8 a.m. Monday, travel times were estimated at 6 hours 50 minutes from Seoul to the southeastern city of Busan, five hours and 50 minutes to the southeastern city of Daegu, and two hours and 20 minutes to the central city of Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC).

The KEC reported that outbound traffic from Seoul peaked between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., and is expected to begin easing around 11 p.m.

Inbound travel times were similar — an estimated six hours 50 minutes driving time from Busan to Seoul, five hours and 50 minutes from Daegu and one hour 30 minutes from Daejeon, the KEC said.

A total of 6.67 million vehicles were forecast to be on the highways nationwide Monday, including 490,000 departing the Seoul metropolitan area for other provinces and 480,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.

Yonhap