Vehicles clog the southbound lanes on the Gyeongbu Expressway in Seoul, as millions of South Koreans begin their annual exodus out of the capital toward their hometowns during the extended Lunar New Year holiday, Jan. 22. Yonhap

Traffic on major highways eased late Monday even as millions of Korean headed back to Seoul on the third day of the four-day Lunar New Year holiday.

As of 10 p.m., it was taking about 4 hours and 40 minutes to drive from the southern port city of Busan to Seoul, around 3 hours and 30 minutes from Daegu, 3 hours and 20 minutes from the southwestern city of Gwangju, and about 2 hours and 40 minutes from Gangneung on the east coast, according to the state-run Korea Expressway Corp.

The traffic was expected to further ease after midnight.

This year's holiday, one of the country's largest, started Saturday, with the annual exodus of people from Seoul and its surrounding areas to their hometowns for Lunar New Year, which fell on Sunday.

With the extended holiday ending Tuesday, those same people began making their way back to the nation's capital Monday.

The expressway operator estimated 5.13 million vehicles hit the road Monday. (Yonhap)