Koreans Celebrate Lunar New Year's Day

Lunar New Year or Seollal in Korea means meeting up with family members, performing traditional rites to honor the family's ancestors, and eating lots of delicious food. Of course, that is -- IF you survive through HOURS of being stuck in heavy traffic along with millions of others on the road.
Koreans on the move - that's where we begin tonight with Arirang's Hwang Sung-hee.
Good evening, Sung-hee - Happy Seollal to you!

[Reporter : ] Happy Seollal to you, too, Conn-young.

So, what's the traffic looking like at this hour - especially with the nation currently under a cold spell

[Reporter : ] Well, Conn-young with most of the nation under cold wave watches and warnings, the first day of the Lunar New Year was one of the coldest days this winter.
Seoul temperatures recorded around minus 9 degrees Celsius during the day, but because of strong winds, many felt it to be much colder.
But like you said, Conn-young, it seems the freezing temperature didn't stop Seoulites from visiting their families, as over 370-thousand cars are estimated to have headed towards the countryside today alone.
And as for those returning, around 380-thousand cars are estimated to have hit the road on their way back to the capital on Monday.
Traffic conditions are no better, taking twice as long to travel back from Busan to Seoul and roads are expected to be congested throughout Tuesday.

So, for those who did make it to their hometowns on time -- how did they spend the New Year's day today

[Reporter : ] Many families usually begin their preparations for the Lunar New Year days ahead, because it is one of the biggest holidays here in Korea.
For many, the day means getting together with families for traditional rituals and a family meal.

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Traffic at Its Peak on Lunar New Year's Day Koreans are celebrating the Lunar New Year Day today.
And as is always the case at this time of year, MILLIONS of people, have been heading over to their hometowns to see their relatives since last Friday.
Traffic is at its worst rightNow, going in and out of Seoul.
According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, about 250-thousand cars came back to Seoul as of 6 p.m. today, while close to 300-thousand drove out of Seoul.
Currently, it takes over eight hours from Busan, five hours from Daejeon, and about four hours from Gangneung to Seoul.
Today is also a bit COLDER than yesterday,.. with the temperature in the capital city having plunged to, minus 7 degrees Celsius, but strong winds make it feel a lot colder.
And most of the country stayed below freezing point all day, while southwestern cities like, Gwangju and Mokpo saw snow.