I sometimes use express highways, but I feel that the toll is too expensive. In the past, I passed through the Kuri tollgate. The highway section wasn't so long, but the toll was very expensive compared with the distance. I didn't know well how the toll was spent, although the Korean Highway Corporation collected a toll. But last September 29th, an incident happened at the Pankyo tollgate. On that day, the inhabitants of the new city initiated a rejection campaign against the Korean Highway Corporation. Neither would yield to the other in their rivalry.
        These days, the Pankyo toll abolition committee have joined forces with other social groups and started a payment rejection campaign at the Pankyo tollgate in the morning. The Korean Highway Corporation has arranged a staff of 100 men who take the tolls while wrangling with unpaid cars one by one. For example, one driver paid with a ￦5,000,000 check. They are having serious psychological warfare with each other continuously. Besides, the Korean Highway Corporation blocked the way of unpaid cars during the evening rush hour. As a result, heavy traffic has gradually increased on the Kyongbu highway. The Korean Highway Corporation recorded cars' license numbers and took photographs of citizens whose protests against the traffic increase were extreme.
        The Korean Highway Corporation didn't take a toll at Pankyo tollgate before the Yangjae tollgate was moved to Gungnae-dong in October 1987. But they started again in July 1992 while the Suwon-Yangjae section was widened for an 8-lane highway. Thus they had started tolls in 1992, and they have had tolls continually and higher prices until now.
        Bundang City inhabitants claim that the toll collection increase wasn't passed by legal formalities, and the Pankyo-Yangjae section is only 9.1 km, but they must pay a lot of money. On the contrary, the Korean Highway Corporation states from a different point of view that the present toll is low in comparison with foreign countries, and the Bundang-Seoul section is passable for free. Also, if one area is exempt from the toll, the burden is passed on to the general public or other highway users. Therefore, the toll is surely necessary for construction, preservation and control of the express highway.
        Now, this problem has gotten serious on a national scale in Kuri, Taegu, Wulsan, etc., similar to the Pankyo tollgate. But the Korean Highway Corporation continues to collect a toll and obstructs unpaid cars from passing the tollgate before the final decision the court. However, one shocking fact that was found out was that the Korean Highway Corporation staff doesn't pay when they pass through a tollgate. I wonder how they can explain this fact.
        So I think that it isn't right to charge a toll that is too expensive compared with the distance. If the highway tolls were lower in price, maybe the number of highway users would increase. Of course, I had known that our countries highway toll is cheaper than other countries. Nevertheless, the toll is expensive just compared with the distance, and the price--￦1,100--causes a gradual increase in traffic during the morning rush hour. If highway users don't prepare a ￦100-coin, they take a longer time to get change. Accordingly, I think that short distance highway tolls should be lower in price for users to lighten their burden. Also, there is no tollgate on some highways that are longer in distance than the Bundang highway. So I think that long distance highway tolls should be a little higher in price, and there should be more tollgates on longer highways where there are none now.