Chuseok Holiday Exodus Brings Heavy Traffic to South Korea’s Expressways

Traffic began building across South Korea’s major expressways Wednesday as travelers left the Seoul metropolitan area ahead of the four-day Chuseok holiday. The annual movement of people to hometowns and holiday destinations was expected to put 6.13 million vehicles on the country’s roads during the day, according to Korea Expressway Corp.

Chuseok, often described as the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, runs from Thursday through Sunday this year. The holiday traditionally brings family reunions and visits to ancestral graves, while the extended break also prompts leisure travel. The combination was already producing heavier-than-usual traffic Wednesday afternoon.

Korea Expressway Corp. estimated that 510,000 vehicles would travel from the Seoul metropolitan area to other regions, while another 450,000 would move toward the capital region. The imbalance reflected the early stage of the holiday exodus, when outbound traffic from the country’s largest population center typically dominates major routes.

Congestion was visible on southbound lanes of the Gyeongbu Expressway, the principal highway linking Seoul with Busan. The operator estimated that the roughly 420-kilometer journey from Seoul to the southeastern port city would take about seven hours and 30 minutes.

Drivers heading southwest faced similarly long travel times. A trip from Seoul to Gwangju was projected to take approximately six hours and 50 minutes. The journey east to Gangneung was expected to take about three hours and 20 minutes. These estimates illustrated the pressure on routes carrying travelers away from the capital before the holiday formally began.

The projected nationwide traffic volume means conditions may vary sharply by route and departure time. Motorists beginning trips Wednesday were likely to encounter delays even before the main holiday period, as family visits and vacation travel converged on the road network.

The holiday traffic wave is a recurring feature of Chuseok, but the four-day calendar concentrates a large volume of movement into a relatively short period. Wednesday’s early congestion marked the opening phase of that nationwide movement, with expressways serving both traditional hometown visits and travel during the extended break. Travelers were therefore facing substantially longer journeys than normal on several of the country’s busiest intercity corridors.