South Korea has launched its first high speed rail line, the KTX , between Seoul and Pusan

Railway Age, May, 2004

South Korea has launched its first high speed rail line, the KTX (Korea Train eXpress), between Seoul and Pusan, KTX's 46 high speed trainsets will cover the 412 kilometers in two hours and 40 minutes vs. four hours and 10 minutes on conventional Saemaul trains. The first leg of the new line between Seoul and Daegu (281 km) opened for revenue service last month with operation at 300 kph, KTX will run on upgraded conventional lines between Daegu and Pusan and between Daejon to Mokpo, KTX trains will serve four stations: Seoul and Daegu and the intermediate stations of Cheonan and Daejon.

Three more stations will be introduced at Osong, Gimcheon, and Ulsan once the final 131 km of new high speed line from Daegu to Pusan is completed by 2010.