South Korea: TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS



TRANSPORTATION System Overview: Although South Korea has a fairly extensive network of highways and efficient subways in both Seoul and Pusan, most observers believe the transportation system is currently operating well above capacity. Vehicular traffic, particularly in urban areas, is notoriously bad. Expansions of both the highway and subway systems are underway. Train and bus service is widely available both in urban and rural areas.



Roads: In 2002, the most recent year for which government figures are available, South Korea had 96,037 kilometers of roadway, 76.7 percent of which was paved. There were 2,778 kilometers of paved expressways. Expansion of the expressway system throughout the nation is underway. In 2001 expressways were renumbered in a fashion similar to the interstate highway system in the United States. North-south routes have odd numbers, and east-west routes have even numbers. South Korea’s first expressway, the Ky4ngbu Expressway, is Route 1. Route numbers 70 through 99 are reserved in the event of Korean unification.



Railroads: In 2004 the state-run Korean National Railroad (KNR) had 3,388 kilometers of 1.435-meter gauge rail (2,113 kilometers of single track and 1,274 kilometers of double track), of which 661 kilometers were electrified. Established in 1963, and under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT), the KNR in 2004 operated 20,000 trains in South Korea, including diesel and electric locomotives and railcars, passenger coaches, and freight cars. South Korean rail density (length/area) is only one-half of Japan’s and a quarter of Germany’s. About 20 percent of locomotives and freight cars exceed the normal service life of 20 years, and outdated facilities and signal systems need updating. In response, the MOCT established a National Inter-Modal Transportation Plan, whose ambitious goals include increasing the rail lines to nearly 5,000 kilometers by 2019.



Ports: The major ports are Chinhae, Inch’4n, Kßnsan, Masan, Mokp’o, P’ohang, Pusan, Tonghae-hang, Ulsan, and Y4su. Various steamship lines provide passenger service to Korea. South Korea’s merchant fleet comprises 601 ships of 1,000 gross registered tons or more. By type, they include 125 bulk carriers, 196 cargo ships, 88 chemical tankers, 71 container ships, 20 liquefied gas carriers, 5 passenger ships, 22 passenger/cargo ships, 51 petroleum tankers, 15 refrigerated cargo carriers, 5 roll on/roll off ships, and 3 vehicle carriers.



Inland Waterways: South Korea has 1,068 kilometers of inland waterways restricted to small craft.

Civil Aviation and Airports: South Korea has eight international airports. The largest is Inch’4n (Incheon) International Airport in Inch’4n, 49 kilometers west of Seoul and served by expressway and, under construction in 2005, rail service. It began operations in 2001 (replacing Seoul’s Kimp’o International Airport). In 2005, 62 national and foreign airlines served Inch’4n. Other international airports are located at Kimhae, Cheju, Ch’4ngju, Kimp’o, Yangyang, Taegu, and Kwangju. Kimp’o, Kimhae, and Cheju operate direct flights to and from Tokyo, Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Æsaka in Japan. Altogether, South Korea has 88 airports with paved runways and 91 airports with unpaved runways, as well as 206 heliports. South Korea is connected by air to every major capital in the world, either through direct flights or by connecting flights from major international airports in the Asia-Pacific region. South Korea’s major airlines are Korean Air (KAL) with a fleet of 117 passenger and cargo planes, and Asiana Airlines, with a fleet of 61 passenger and cargo planes.



Pipelines: In 2004 South Korea had 1,433 kilometers of gas and 827 kilometers of refined products pipelines. Plans are underway to build a pipeline that would supply South Korea and China with natural gas from the region of Eastern Siberia.

Telecommunications: South Korea had 22.8 million landline telephones and 33,591,800 cellular phones in use in 2003. According to 2002 estimates, the country had 42 million radios. South Korea leads all nations in broadband access and in 2003 had 29.2 million Internet users and 11 Internet service providers. In the late 1990s, South Koreans had access to some 121 television broadcast stations and 55.9 million television sets.