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Seoul, Oct 8 (IANS) Major roads and expressways were partially congested across South Korea on Wednesday, the sixth day of the extended Chuseok holiday.

With Chuseok, the Korean fall harvest festival, falling on Monday, South Koreans have been enjoying an extended holiday from Friday to Thursday, as Chuseok falls between National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day, which marks the creation of the Korean alphabet, Yonhap News Agency reported.

As of 8 am, travel times were estimated at 6 hours and 50 minutes from Seoul to the southeastern city of Busan, 4 hours and 40 minutes to the southeastern city of Daegu, and 1 hour and 48 minutes to the central city of Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC).

Inbound travel times were shorter at five hours estimated from Busan to Seoul, 4 hours and 52 minutes from Daegu and 1 hour and 40 minutes from Daejeon, the KEC said.

A total of 5.46 million vehicles were forecast to be on the road nationwide Wednesday, including 320,000 departing from the Seoul metropolitan area for other provinces and 330,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.

On Tuesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung reaffirmed his pledge to focus on improving people's livelihoods, a day after the nation celebrated the Chuseok holiday.

"With a humble heart, I promise again that I will more carefully look after the people's present and the future of their livelihoods," Lee wrote on Instagram as he shared photos of himself and first lady Kim Hea Kyung in traditional Korean attire to mark the nation's fall harvest festival.

He said he would commit to such efforts even if it could mean putting important things on the line or risking finger-pointing and misunderstanding.

Lee's comments come as South Korea and the United States are currently undergoing tariff negotiations.

It also came after the main opposition People Power Party criticised his appearance last night on JTBC's cooking show "Please Take Care of My Refrigerator," where he promoted Korean cuisine.

The recording of the episode featuring Lee and his wife took place amid an outage of online government services due to a fire at a state data centre late last month.

--IANS

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