S. Korea building nationwide bullet trains

SEOUL, April 3 (UPI) -- South Korea is expanding its high-speed bullet train network across the country, the Transportation Ministry said Sunday.

Major cities will be connected by 2020, enabling travel anywhere in the country within 90 minutes, Yonhap reports.

The link between the major southern cities of Busan and Daegu was finished in November.

By 2014, the segments between Daegu and Daejeon and between Osong and Gwangju are expected to open, the ministry said. By 2017, the bullet-train link from Gwangju to Mokpo should be complete, shortening the trip from Seoul to Gwangju to some 70 minutes.

The government also is upgrading new and existing conventional railways to raise trains' maximum speed to 140 miles per hour.