President Yoon Suk Yeol (second from right) celebrates the launch of the KTX Cheong-ryong, a new class of bullet train boasting a speed of 320 kilometers per hour, at Daejeon Station on Monday. (Presidential office)
South Korea on Monday unveiled the KTX Cheong-ryong, a new class of bullet train that boasts a maximum speed of 320 kilometers per hour.
The new high-speed train is the first domestically designed and manufactured one with a peak speed surpassing 300 kilometers per hour. South Korea launched its homegrown bullet train, the KTX-Sancheon, in 2008 for the first time.
Beginning in May, the KTX Cheong-ryong will operate four times a day between Seoul and Busan in southeastern Korea, and twice a day between Seoul and Gwangju in the southwest.
The plan was unveiled as KTX marked its 20th anniversary on Monday. Korea was the fifth country in the world to introduce a high-speed train system.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a congratulatory speech in Daejeon that South Korea has embarked on a "train revolution based on 20 years of high-speed train operations."
Yoon added that the KTX Cheong-ryong trains will run more frequently between Seoul and Busan once more railways are added between Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province and Osong, North Chungcheong Province, by 2028.
According to Yoon's office, the KTX Cheong-ryong can travel between Seoul and Busan in about 2 hours and 10 minutes, and between Yongsan Station in Seoul and Gwangju in 1 1/2 hours, with fewer stops in between than the KTX-Sancheon.
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