Hvy snow in S Korea creats problems

[senorpepr]

SEOUL (AFP) - Heavy snowfalls forced hundreds of schools to be closed and wreaked havoc with road traffic in South Korea.

A record snowfall of 50 centimetres (20 inches) hit the central city of Daejeon, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Seoul, forcing the closure of all 466 schools including kindergartens there, YTN television said Friday.

It was the heaviest snowfall in the region since 1904 when the country began collecting weather data in accordance with international practices, according to the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA).

Daejeon's previous highest snowfall was in 1974 when 25.5 centimeters fell.

Heavy snowfall also caused the country's most important highway linking Seoul and the southern city of Busan to be closed to traffic for hours as snow was cleared.

In Seoul, subway stations were bursting with crowds of commuters Friday morning after snowfall the previous night paralyzed road traffic.

It took three hours by road to travel from Seoul to its northern bed town of Ilsan, some 30 kilmetres, as cars crawled along the snow-strewn highway.