Expressways in the country were seeing heavy traffic Saturday morning with the mass movement of people heading to their hometowns on the first day of the five-day Chuseok holiday.

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation(KEC), as of 9 a.m. this morning, the expected travel time from Seoul to Busan was seven hours ten minutes, while it was five hours and 50 minutes from Seoul to Gwangju, and three hours and 40 minutes from Seoul to Daejeon.

In the opposite direction, travel time from those cities to the capital were forecast to be five hours from Busan, three hours and 20 minutes from Gwangju, and one hour and 30 minutes from Daejeon.

The KEC projected some 420-thousand vehicles to depart from the capital region, and around 430-thousand vehicles to travel the opposition direction.

Traffic congestion will peak at around noon and will start to ease in the evening, between 8 and 9 p.m.