S. Korea observes Chusok
Written: 2001-10-01 00:00:00 / Updated: 0000-00-00 00:00:00
South Koreans have spent Chusok Day ... honoring their ancestors in a memorial service at home and visiting their tombs later in the day.
This year Chusok falls on Monday, the second day of four-consecutive holidays.
At Imjingak Pavilion, just south of the truce village of Panmunjom, separated families got together for a joint memorial service for their ancestors buried in North Korea.
Despite rains that have drenched the Seoul metropolitan areas and much of the nation over the weekend, homebound travelers and tomb visitors are clogging the nation's highways and byways.
Flight services that were interrupted Sunday due to torrential rains spawned by a typhoon are back to normal. But ferry services to islands off the west and east coast still remain suspended ... stranding home visitors for a second day.
Highway authorities say that this year an estimated 32 million people are on the move during the nation's longest holiday period.
Sunday saw traffic congestion at its peak with average travel time from Seoul to the southern port city of Busan topping more than 12 hours.
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