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| Kyungbu Highway near Jamwon Interchange in Seoul is busy with cars returning home after the Chuseok holiday. Traffic on highways was not as bad as previous years as fewer people traveled for the holiday due to COVID-19. Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
Car accidents and domestic violence usually increase during holidays in Korea, but this Chuseok saw both down ― possibly due to COVID-19 ― according to the National Police Agency (NPA), Sunday.
The NPA released a report Sunday summarizing their activities during the Chuseok holiday from Sept. 21 to midnight Oct. 3 across the country.
According to the report, a total of 898 cases of domestic violence were reported during Chuseok, down approximately 14 percent from last year.
Commonly a higher number of domestic violence cases are reported during the traditional Korean holidays ― Seollal and Chuseok ― as family stress levels increase due to deeply embedded cultural expectations.
An average of 331 car accidents were reported each day between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, down 28.5 percent from last year's 463 accidents.
The death toll also decreased to an average five per day from 6.7 last year during the same period. The average number of injuries also dropped from 861.7 per day to 453.8.
Chuseok is the most significant holiday in Korea and more than half of the population travel during it to visit family. But this year saw the number of travelers decrease due to the pandemic and government suggestions to avoid unnecessary travel. To discourage travelers, the government imposed highway tolls during the holiday, which are usually waived for the period.
The government also placed additional regulations on highway rest area operators. It ordered food courts and restaurants to serve only take-away to customers. Also all people arriving at these outlets had to have their temperature checked and leave their personal information.
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