As Chinese plan golden week travel, South Koreans celebrating Chuseok are urged to stay home

Millions of South Koreans usually fan out across the country for the autumn harvest holiday to visit family and gather for meals

But amid fears of a spike in Covid-19 cases, authorities are doing all they can to dissuade travel, with the PM urging people to ‘blame’ him for failing to visit their parents

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South Koreans make ‘songpyeon’, a half-moon shaped stuffed rice cake, ahead of Chuseok in Seoul last year. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:00am, 29 Sep 2020Updated: 8:54pm, 29 Sep 2020

In a normal year, Lee Kyoung-sook would be looking forward to bringing four generations of her family together to celebrate Chuseok, one of South Korea’s biggest holidays.

She would usually sit down for a feast with her husband, their octogenarian parents, their son and their grandchildren to mark the autumn harvest holiday. This year, though, the coronavirus pandemic means that when the five-day Chuseok period begins on Wednesday, Lee’s family reunion will be split into two smaller gatherings.

“It’s not worth the risk,” said Lee, who lives in the western suburbs of Seoul. “We have to be careful just in case.”

In China, tourists are expected to celebrate the “golden week” holiday following National Day on October 1 by flocking to popular destinations, with about 600 million trips forecast. But in South Korea, where millions usually travel to their hometowns to perform ancestral commemoration rituals during Chuseok, authorities have urged people to stay at home as a precaution against the further spread of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun made a public plea on his Facebook page, posting a cartoon with a message reading: “Mom and Papa, the prime minister says skipping home visits is the best way of doing our filial obligations this time. You can put all the blame on me for failing to visit your parents for this year’s Chuseok. Celebrate Chuseok, remote from your parents for them.”