Few traffic tie-ups, delays as holiday exodus continues

No serious traffic congestion was reported on the nation's highways Sunday, despite the fact that an estimated 32 million people were traveling to other cities to spend the "Sollal," or Lunar New Year's holidays with their families.

Lunar New Year¡¯s Day, one of the Korea's two most important holidays, falls on Wednesday this year.

The unexpectedly smooth flow of the traffic nationwide was initially attributed to the fact that some companies gave their employees and extra day off Monday to allow them to get an early start on their homebound journeys. In some cases, Koreans were stretching to seven days what is formally just a three- day holiday from Tuesday to Thursday.

Mild weather and good road conditions also helped make for what is turning out to be a trouble-free holiday.

Highway conditions on Sunday were similar to those on any other weekend and in some sections, traffic was moving even more smoothly than usual.

Traffic jams were reported in some sections between Chukchon and Chonan on the Kyongbu (Seoul-Pusan) Highway and between Yoju and Munmak on the Yongdong Highway, but traffic was moving at a good clip on most other highways and roads.

A spokesman for the special task force under the Korea Highway Corporation said Sunday that although the news was good so far, the traffic volume is expected to increase beginning Monday evening.

However, he forecast that those who left Seoul or other big cities on Monday morning wouldn't have much difficulty on their journeys.

Kimpo International Airport and the Seoul Railroad Station were also reported to be running smoothly. Although three flights to Pusan and Ulsan were cancelled by 7:30 a.m. due to thick fog at the airport, other flights were on schedule.

Meanwhile, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast that the weather would clear on Monday thanks to high atmospheric pressure, but said it would become cloudy in the evening. Southern coastal areas in South Cholla Province (probability of rain 30 percent) and Cheju (probability of rain 60 percent) were expected to see periodic rainfall through the night.

The KMA forecast calls for clouds nationwide on Tuesday with sporadic rain or snow in the southern region.