Korea's Traffic Hell
KOREA'S TRAFFIC HELL
Practice English with your teacher
Warm-up
Talk about these questions with your teacher.
선생님과 이야기해 보세요.
- The passage describes Chuseok drives taking up to 29 hours. Have you experienced extreme traffic during Korean holidays? How did you cope?
- The text says cars went from "luxury items" to "basic necessity" in just a decade. Has Korea's relationship with cars changed again since then?
Vocabulary
Listen and repeat after your teacher.
선생님을 따라 읽어보세요.
Reading
Read the passage with your teacher.
선생님과 함께 지문을 읽어보세요.
Finding a SolutionOn a normal weekday you can drive from Seoul to Pusan in about 5 or 5 ½ hours. But on a weekend or a holiday, it can take between 2 and 6 times as long to
make the same trip.During the 1992 Chusok holiday period, the 492 km. Drive took about 10 or 12 hours, and that seemed almost unbearable. The following year the drive took about 21 hours, and in 1994, some travelers reported that it had taken them 29 hours!A drive on one of Seoul’s notoriously crowded inner city expressways on a
normal day is a traffic nightmare. Bumper-to-bumper conditions are an everyday
occurrence in Korean cities. It’s a way of life for people who live in or around Seoul, and it’s getting to be the same in all the large cities in Korea.The traffic jams are more than just a constant inconvenience. They are
beginning to hurt the economy, as the transportation of perishable foods and other
merchandise takes too long to reach store shelves. Exporters, cannot meet overseas
delivery schedules because cargo transported by trucks cannot reach ports in time for
ship departures.The problem began in the late 1980s, when Koreans started to get rich
enough to buy their own cars. Until that time, cars were considered to be luxury items. Today, having a car is thought to be a basic necessity.No one anticipated that Korea would develop so fast, In 1985 we could
never have imagined that just 10 years later the roads would be clogged with so many privately-owned cars. Although road construction has been continuous, it hasn’t been
able to keep up with the number of new vehicles, which is being added to roads each
day.Beside the traffic nightmare, there is also what might be called a “parking
hell”. It is getting to be nearly impossible for dome residents of apartment complexes to find places to park their cars at night. Cars are double parked behind other cars or
parked with two wheels on the sidewalkCity officials have tried many schemes to force citizens to use public
transportation, but most people insist on using their own cars. Now, even though most people don’t like the idea, it seems inevitable that some kind of “user’s tax” (gasoline
tax) will have to be imposed to encourage car owners to leave their cars at home.There doesn’t seem to be an easy way out of the situation. Koreans are
finding out that even getting rich creates problems.
Korean Trap! / 한국인 실수 교정
Common mistakes Korean speakers make.
한국인이 자주 하는 실수를 알아봅시다.
'traffic jam'은 일시적 정체를, 'traffic congestion'은 만성적 교통 문제를 말합니다. 또한 'serious'보다 'severe'가 교통 문제에 더 적합합니다. 문맥에 맞는 단어 선택이 중요합니다.
Discussion
Share your thoughts with your teacher.
선생님과 의견을 나눠보세요.
- The passage says traffic jams are "beginning to hurt the economy" through delayed deliveries. How has e-commerce and same-day delivery culture worsened or improved this problem?
- The text notes that "no one anticipated" Korea's rapid development. Should urban planning always plan for worst-case growth scenarios?
- Korea has invested heavily in public transportation since this was written. Has the subway and bus system adequately addressed the problems described?
- The passage mentions bumper-to-bumper conditions as "a way of life." At what point does traffic congestion become an unacceptable quality-of-life issue?
- Some cities have implemented congestion pricing and car-free zones. Would such measures work in Korean cities?
Lesson Summary / 수업 요약
Today's Topic: KOREA'S TRAFFIC HELL
Level: Low Advanced (L.A)
Review this lesson before your next class! / 다음 수업 전에 복습하세요!