Every Korean holiday season the same sentence goes around: “Expressway tolls are waived again this Chuseok.” Open the statute it rests on, though, and the waiver sits behind three separate conditions. One of them leaves the last day of the holiday outside the Decree — and in 2025 and again in 2026 that day was added back by the Cabinet.
1. Which days. Item 2 of the Decree names the 14th to the 16th of the eighth lunar month — three days, which in 2026 is 24, 25 and 26 September. But item 3 opens it to “any other day designated after deliberation by the State Council”, and in 2026 the plan to use it for 27 September was announced on 1 September and confirmed by Cabinet vote on 22 September — 24 to 27 September, four days.
2. Which roads. “Expressways designated and published by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.” Not every road, and not even every toll road — the paragraph starts from national expressways.
3. Does it have to happen. The Act says the authority “may reduce or exempt” the toll. Even with the days fixed in the Decree, nothing switches on by itself.
The legal basis arrived in 2018
Free holiday tolls are older than that in practice, but the clause that puts them in the Act itself was inserted on 16 January 2018.
Toll Road Act, article 15 (3) A toll road management agency or a holder of toll road management rights may reduce or exempt the toll for vehicles using a national expressway on Lunar New Year’s Day, Chuseok and other days prescribed by Presidential Decree, as prescribed by Presidential Decree. <Newly inserted on 16 Jan 2018>
(4) The State may subsidise all or part of the cost arising from the reduction or exemption under paragraphs (2) and (3), as prescribed by Presidential Decree. <Newly inserted on 16 Jan 2018>
The two paragraphs came in on the same day, and that pairing is the point. One clause waives the toll; the next says the State may cover what the waiver costs. The money does not disappear — the payer changes.
Condition one — three days by decree, a fourth by Cabinet
Enforcement Decree of the Toll Road Act, article 8 (vehicles eligible for reduction and the rates) (2) “Lunar New Year’s Day, Chuseok and other days prescribed by Presidential Decree” in article 15(3) of the Act means the following days. <Newly inserted on 15 Jan 2019>
1. The day before Lunar New Year, the day itself and the day after (the last day of the twelfth lunar month, and the 1st and 2nd of the first lunar month)
2. The day before Chuseok, Chuseok and the day after (the 14th to the 16th of the eighth lunar month)
3. Any other day designated after deliberation by the State Council
| 2026 | Day | What it is | Toll exempt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 September | Thu | Day before Chuseok (14th lunar day) | Yes |
| 25 September | Fri | Chuseok (15th lunar day) | Yes |
| 26 September | Sat | Day after Chuseok (16th lunar day) | Yes |
| 27 September | Sun | A Sunday — a public holiday, but two days after Chuseok | Item 3 — confirmed by Cabinet vote 22 September |
The mismatch exists because two different documents are doing two different jobs. The Regulations on Public Holidays for Government Offices treat every Sunday as a public holiday; item 2 of the Toll Road Enforcement Decree writes down three lunar dates.
But the same paragraph has an item 3 — “any other day designated after deliberation by the State Council”. The three days are a floor, not a ceiling. And that item does get used.
| Chuseok 2025 | Dates | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Item 2 — the three lunar days | 5–7 October | named in the Decree |
| What was actually exempt | 4–7 October (four days) | 43rd Cabinet meeting |
Saturday 4 October was added by the Cabinet. The Ministry’s own press release of 29 September 2025 carries it in the title: “four days (4–7 Oct) toll-free”. That was five days before the holiday began.
So 27 September could not simply be written off. On the Decree alone it is out; if the Cabinet designates it, it is in. And this year the government has said it will — the formal approval comes on 22 September.
Chuseok 2026 is four days — 24 to 27 September. At the Cabinet meeting of 1 September 2026 the government announced its Chuseok livelihood package (an inter-ministerial plan), stating that “expressway tolls are waived from the 24th to the 27th”. That was 23 days before the holiday began. That was an announcement, and it was confirmed by Cabinet vote on 22 September — see the 22 September confirmation below.
🔴 This is where we were wrong. Until 14 September this article said the decision was still unannounced and, on last year’s interval, would land around 19 September. It had in fact been out for thirteen days. We had been watching one channel only — the transport ministry’s press releases. The item-3 date arrives earlier, and through a different channel. The same held in 2025: the Cabinet decision came on 23 September and the ministry’s holiday traffic plan only on 29 September, six days apart. We are recording the error rather than quietly overwriting it.
20 September — the traffic plan is out
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s release “Government joint special traffic measures for the Chuseok holiday” (Transport Policy Coordination Division). It was released for publication at 11:00 on Sunday 20 September, and the header reads “distributed 18 September (Fri)” — it went to reporters on the 18th under embargo, which is why we could not see it that day.
… designated the five days from Wednesday 23 September to Sunday 27 September as the “special traffic measures period”.
… ② (convenience and services) expressway tolls will be waived* for the four days around Chuseok (24–27 September), and fuel prices at expressway service stations** cut by 100 won per litre …
* to be finally confirmed at the Cabinet meeting of 22 September (Tue)
** the 226 service stations on the state-funded expressways managed by the Korea Expressway Corporation
🔴 This piece had got ahead of itself. The three-conditions table below said “set by Cabinet, 1 Sept”. The ministry’s own footnote says “to be finally confirmed at the Cabinet meeting of 22 September”. What happened on 1 September was the announcement of the livelihood package; the item-3 decision is on 22 September. That is the same order as 2025, when the plan came first and the decision followed at the 43rd Cabinet meeting (23 September). Where we wrote that we “could not find the 2026 equivalent”, it was because the meeting had not happened yet. The table is corrected.
⚠️ Mixing up the two footnotes gets the roads wrong. The release has two asterisk marks — one (*) on the toll waiver and two (**) on the service stations. “State-funded expressways managed by the Korea Expressway Corporation” is the service-station footnote. Some press write-ups read it as the scope of the toll waiver and reported “only state-funded expressways are free”. The toll footnote in the original says only that final confirmation is due on 22 September, and names no routes.
So the roads are still open. The dates are now confirmed from two original documents (the 1 September announcement and the 20 September traffic plan), but which routes are covered is set by the 22 September decision and the notice and Korea Expressway Corporation guidance that follow. This time the date we are waiting for is exact: Tuesday 22 September.
⚠️ What did appear on 18 September is not about tolls. That day the ministry issued “Fuel tax cut extended; discounts on expressway fuel and EV charging over the Chuseok holiday” — the fuel tax cut extended two months to the end of November, expressway service-station fuel cut by KRW 100 a litre against 17 September prices during the holiday (24–27 September), and daytime EV charging discounts. “Expressway discount” names two different things: the toll waiver (Cabinet, 1 September) and cheaper petrol (18 September) come from different documents and different authority. The word “toll” does not appear once in that release. It does, however, confirm the four-day holiday of 24–27 September again.
22 September — confirmed by Cabinet vote
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s press release, issued at 09:50 on 22 September 2026, is titled “Expressway tolls waived and expressway fuel prices cut by 100 won a litre over this year’s four-day Chuseok holiday”. At today’s 41st Cabinet meeting, the government voted to add 27 September under article 8(2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Toll Road Act.
All three conditions are now set. The period is four days, from 00:00 on Thursday 24 September to 24:00 on Sunday 27 September; the roads are all national expressways, including privately financed ones; and the coverage is every vehicle that uses an expressway, even briefly. The one question this piece had left open — whether privately financed roads are included — is now answered: yes. The same release also confirms the fuel-price cut of 100 won a litre at the 226 state-funded expressway service stations run by the Korea Expressway Corporation (the same figure as the 18 September release).
The same four days split differently again under employment law — what a shift on those days actually pays is set out in our Korean holiday work pay calculator, where the first question is headcount rather than the date.
Condition two — the roads are listed too
Same Decree, article 8 (3) … the rate of reduction shall be as follows. …
1. 100/100 of the toll
(a) Vehicles for military operations, ambulances and relief vehicles, and vehicles engaged in firefighting activity
…
(e) Vehicles travelling, on the days listed in paragraph (2), on a national expressway designated and published by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
Two things are settled in that one item.
- The rate is 100 per cent. The statutory word is “reduction or exemption”, which reads like a partial discount, but for the holiday days the Decree writes 100/100.
- It applies only to expressways named in a ministerial notice. The Decree does not open the road network as a whole; it hands the list to a published notice.
Article 15(3) of the Act itself also says “vehicles using a national expressway”. Set out row by row, the narrowing looks like this.
| Road | Where it lands in the text | Exempt? |
|---|---|---|
| National expressway — in the notice | Act art. 15(3) + Decree art. 8(3)1(e) | Yes — 100/100 |
| National expressway — not in the notice | Same provision — the notice sets the scope | Per the notice |
| Ordinary toll road | Art. 15(3) says national expressway only | Not this clause |
| Privately financed road | The text alone does not settle it | Yes — confirmed 22 Sept |
The bottom two rows were the gap between “the expressways are free” and what the text actually said. The 22 September Cabinet vote confirmed the routes as all national expressways, including privately financed ones — the detailed notice follows.
Condition three — “may”, not “shall”
The verb in article 15(3) is “may reduce or exempt”, not “shall”. In Korean statutory drafting those are not interchangeable — the first creates a discretion, the second an obligation.
| Condition | Where it is fixed | Chuseok 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| The days | Decree art. 8(2) — 14th to 16th lunar day + item 3 | 24–27 Sept, four days |
| The roads | Decree art. 8(3)1(e) — ministerial notice | All national expressways (private ones included, 22 Sep Cabinet vote) |
| Whether it happens | Act art. 15(3) — “may” | Announced 1 Sept → confirmed by Cabinet vote 22 Sept |
Item 3 of article 8(2) — “any other day designated after deliberation by the State Council” — works the same way. Adding a day, such as a one-off public holiday, requires a Cabinet decision. Days outside the three written into the Decree do not attach themselves — but they are attached most years. That is how the fourth day arrived in 2025, and again in 2026.
The word “reduction” also covers being cut off
Toll Road Act, article 15 (2) … for vehicles for military operations, ambulances and relief vehicles, vehicles engaged in firefighting activity and other vehicles prescribed by Presidential Decree, the toll may be reduced or exempted only where the vehicle is operated for its intended purpose … provided that in any of the following cases the toll shall not be reduced or exempted, with the detailed criteria and procedure prescribed by Presidential Decree. <Amended on 16 Aug 2023>
1. Where article 77(1) of the Road Act has been violated
2. Where article 39(1) or (4) of the Road Traffic Act has been violated
That proviso arrived in 2023. In plain terms, overloading a vehicle or failing to secure its load costs it the exemption. Note where it sits: it is attached to paragraph (2), the standing exemption by vehicle type, and not to paragraph (3), the holiday one — that is what the structure of the article says. How the difference is handled in day-to-day operation is something we could not verify.
Taxes on the car itself follow a different set of rules again — acquisition tax and the annual levy are worked through in our Korean car purchase tax calculator.
Where readers usually go wrong
Is the whole four-day holiday free?
Yes — 2026 is four days. The basis comes in two layers, though. On the Decree alone it is three (the 14th to 16th of the eighth lunar month, 24 to 26 September), and Sunday 27 September is not in item 2. That day comes in under item 3: announced on 1 September and confirmed by Cabinet vote on 22 September. 2025 went the same way (decided 23 September). Next year is still not automatic.
Do privately financed roads count?
Article 15(3) says “vehicles using a national expressway”, and the Decree narrows that again to expressways named in a ministerial notice. Privately financed roads are included — the 22 September Cabinet vote named the routes as “all national expressways, including privately financed ones”.
That matches precedent. For Chuseok 2022 the government briefing said “tolls are waived for all vehicles on expressways managed by the Korea Expressway Corporation and on 21 privately financed expressways including the Incheon Airport Expressway”, and that “toll roads run by local governments may waive tolls at their own discretion”. That was the 2022 notice, set afresh each year — and 2026 was confirmed the same way, privately financed roads included.
And if you have seen a report saying “only state-funded expressways” — as noted above, that phrase is the service-station footnote in the original.
Who pays for the waived tolls?
Article 15(4) says the State “may subsidise all or part of the cost”. The money moves rather than vanishes — and note that this clause is a “may” as well.
What if the car has no electronic toll transponder?
The provision sets no condition about the means of payment. Other items in article 8(1) of the Decree do require an electronic payment method, but article 8(2), which carries the holiday days, contains no such wording. How this is handled at the barrier in practice is something we could not verify.
The same article runs every year, but the Decree names three days, narrows the roads to a published list, and leaves the decision itself as a discretion. All three have to line up before anything is free.
Sources
- Korean Law Information Center, Ministry of Government Legislation — statutory text — Toll Road Act, article 15. We read paragraph (3)’s “days prescribed by Presidential Decree” and its “may reduce or exempt” (inserted 16 Jan 2018), paragraph (4) on State subsidy, and the proviso in paragraph (2) removing the exemption (amended 16 Aug 2023) directly in the text.
- Korean Law Information Center — statutory text — Enforcement Decree of the Toll Road Act, article 8. This is where the three lunar dates in paragraph (2) and item (e) of paragraph (3)1 — the ministerial notice and the 100/100 rate live. The most recent amendment is dated 28 July 2026.
- Korean Law Information Center — statutory text — Regulations on Public Holidays for Government Offices. These set the Chuseok holiday as “the day before Chuseok, Chuseok and the day after (the 14th, 15th and 16th of the eighth lunar month)” and also treat Sundays as public holidays. The four-day holiday and the three-day exemption diverge because these two documents cover different ground.
- Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport press release — “Expressway tolls waived and expressway fuel prices cut by 100 won a litre over this year’s four-day Chuseok holiday” (issued 09:50, 22 September 2026). This is where we confirmed the dates, roads (all national expressways, including privately financed ones) and coverage set by the 41st Cabinet meeting.
Where to check further
- The Ministry notice and Korea Expressway Corporation guidance. The 22 September Cabinet vote confirmed the dates, roads and coverage, but the specific route list and payment-method guidance (electronic toll transponder vs. cash) still follow in the ministry announcement and on the Korea Expressway Corporation website.
- The formal item-3 step. On 17 September we wrote that we “could not find the 2026 equivalent” of the 2025 approval announcement — it was not missing; the meeting had not happened. The order differs from 2025 (plan 29 September · decision 23 September): this year the plan came first (20 September) and the decision follows (22 September).
- Payment method. The text does not say anything about how vehicles without an electronic toll transponder are handled — ask the Korea Expressway Corporation customer centre or the operator of the route you plan to use.
Written in August 2026, corrected on 17 September, and rechecked on 18 and 22 September. The quoted provisions are the text as published by the Korean Law Information Center, and the 2026 Chuseok dates are the lunar dates in the Public Holidays Regulations converted to the solar calendar. The four days of 2026 (24–27 September) come from the Chuseok livelihood package announced at the Cabinet meeting of 1 September; the four days of 2025 (4–7 October) from the 43rd Cabinet meeting of 23 September and the Ministry release of 29 September. The earlier version’s arithmetic — “due around 19 September” — was wrong, and we have left the record of it in §the first condition. On 20 September we opened the ministry’s traffic plan and corrected this again — the four days (24–27 September) are reconfirmed from the original, and “set by Cabinet, 1 September” is corrected to “final approval due at the Cabinet meeting of 22 September”. On 22 September we opened the Ministry’s 09:50 press release and checked a third time — the 41st Cabinet meeting confirmed the dates, roads and coverage by vote, and the roads are all national expressways, including privately financed ones. What actually sends people to hospital over the same holiday is set out with ambulance figures in our Chuseok safety piece, and the rest of our everyday tools are in the calculator index. What a cancelled train ticket costs over the holiday is in the Chuseok train refund guide. If the holiday brings drinking with it, see also our piece on drunk driving — refusing the test costs more than failing it.
