Traffic building up on highways as people travel on Lunar New Year

The Gyeongbu Expressway is packed with cars leaving Seoul on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, Feb. 9. Yonhap

Traffic on major highways began to build up across Korea on Saturday morning as millions of people hit the road on the Lunar New Year.

This year's holiday began Friday, marked by the traditional exodus of people from Seoul and its surrounding areas to their hometowns.

On the second day of the long weekend Saturday, more people headed out of the capital region, while others were making their way back to Seoul.

According to the state-run Korea Expressway Corp., a drive from Seoul to the southeastern port city of Busan, 320 kilometers away, was expected to take six hours and 40 minutes as of 9 a.m. Saturday. A trip eastward to Gangneung, some 160 kilometers from Seoul, was expected to take three hours.

The corporation said there was also congestion on Seoul-bound highways Saturday morning. The company estimated 6.05 million vehicles would travel out of the capital area, while another 460,000 cars would move in the opposite direction.

Congestion on roads headed out of Seoul will likely peak between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and ease around 9 p.m., the Korea Expressway Corp. said.

Traffic back to the Seoul area will peak around 3 to 4 p.m. and ease by around 2 to 3 a.m. Sunday, according to the company. (Yonhap)