Following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the government decided to realise the Gyeongbu HSR in two phases.
In a first phase, two-thirds of the high-speed line between the southwestern suburbs of Seoul and Daegu would be finished by 2004, with trains travelling along the parallel conventional line along the rest of the Seoul–Busan route.
The upgrade and electrification of these sections of the Gyeongbu Line was added to the project, and also the upgrade and electrification of the Honam Line from Daejeon to Mokpo, providing a second route for KTX services.
The budget for the first phase was set at 12,737.7 billion won, that for the entire project at 18,435.8 billion won in 1998 prices.
 While the share of government contributions remained unchanged, the share of foreign loans, domestic bond sales and private capital changed to 24%, 29% and 2%.

The infrastructure and rolling stock were created in the framework of a technology transfer agreement, which paired up Korean companies with core system supplier Alstom and its European subcontractors for different subsystems.
Alstom's part of the project amounted to US$2.1 billion or €1.5 billion.

Well ahead of the opening of the Gyeongbu HSR for regular service, in December 1999, 34.4 km (21.4 mi) of the test section, later extended to 57 km (35 mi), was finished to enable trials with trains.
 After further design changes, the high-speed tracks were finished over a length of 223.6 km (138.9 mi), with 15.0 km (9.3 mi) of interconnections to the conventional Gyeongbu Line, including at a short interruption at Daejeon.
The high-speed section itself included 83.1 km (51.6 mi) of viaducts and 75.6 km (47.0 mi) of tunnels.
Conventional line electrification was finished over the 132.8 km (82.5 mi) across Daegu and on to Busan, the 20.7 km (12.9 mi) across Daejeon, and the 264.4 km (164.3 mi) from Daejeon to Mokpo and Gwangju.
After 12 years of construction and with a final cost of 12,737.7 billion won, the initial KTX system with the first phase of the Gyeongbu HSR went into service on April 1, 2004.
Following the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the government decided to realise the Gyeongbu HSR in two phases. In a first phase, two-thirds of the high-speed line between the southwestern suburbs of Seoul and Daegu would be finished by 2004, with trains travelling along the parallel conventional line along the rest of the Seoul–Busan route. The upgrade and electrification of these sections of the Gyeongbu Line was added to the project, and also the upgrade and electrification of the Honam Line from Daejeon to Mokpo, providing a second route for KTX services. The budget for the first phase was set at 12,737.7 billion won, that for the entire project at 18,435.8 billion won in 1998 prices.  While the share of government contributions remained unchanged, the share of foreign loans, domestic bond sales and private capital changed to 24%, 29% and 2%.
The infrastructure and rolling stock were created in the framework of a technology transfer agreement, which paired up Korean companies with core system supplier Alstom and its European subcontractors for different subsystems. Alstom's part of the project amounted to US$2.1 billion or €1.5 billion.
Well ahead of the opening of the Gyeongbu HSR for regular service, in December 1999, 34.4 km (21.4 mi) of the test section, later extended to 57 km (35 mi), was finished to enable trials with trains.  After further design changes, the high-speed tracks were finished over a length of 223.6 km (138.9 mi), with 15.0 km (9.3 mi) of interconnections to the conventional Gyeongbu Line, including at a short interruption at Daejeon. The high-speed section itself included 83.1 km (51.6 mi) of viaducts and 75.6 km (47.0 mi) of tunnels. Conventional line electrification was finished over the 132.8 km (82.5 mi) across Daegu and on to Busan, the 20.7 km (12.9 mi) across Daejeon, and the 264.4 km (164.3 mi) from Daejeon to Mokpo and Gwangju. After 12 years of construction and with a final cost of 12,737.7 billion won, the initial KTX system with the first phase of the Gyeongbu HSR went into service on April 1, 2004.
Korea Train Express