Millions of S. Koreans begin heading home for 'Chuseok'

SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of thousands of vehicles were expected to leave the South Korean capital on Friday as millions of people begin heading home for the Chuseok, or autumn harvest, holiday weekend.

Authorities believe over 34 million people will hit the road during the three-day
holiday that ends Monday.

Over 350,000 vehicles were expected to clog major highways and roads leading out
of Seoul before the day's end, followed by an additional 290,000 or more on
Saturday, according to highway authorities.

"We expect to see the worst congestion late in the evening when most workers
will begin heading to their hometowns after they get off work," an official
at the Korea Expressway Corporation said.

"Still, it will not be the worst in history as we believe many will simply
give up visiting their hometowns due to the short duration of the Chuseok holiday
this year," the official added.

Chuseok, one of Korea's two largest holidays along with the lunar new year, falls
on Aug. 15 by the lunar calendar, which means that some years the holiday is
stretched into a five-day weekend. This year's Chuseok falls on a Sunday.

Highway congestion is expected to be the worst on the last day of the three-day
holiday, when over 50 percent of those returning home are expected to begin their
journey back to Seoul.

All seats on trains departing from the Seoul metropolitan area on Friday were
sold out as of early Friday morning despite the authorities having added hundreds
of additional coaches.