A new train has been launched in the South Korean capital, Seoul, aimed at making travelling on the underground a more pleasurable experience.

Cinetrain - dedicated to the cinema - enables passengers to watch highlights of films on board the specially-designed trains over the next six months.

The train drew gasps of admiration and applause from surprised passengers who stepped onto it for the first time.

The project took around $800,000 to put together - with most of the funding coming from private sponsors.

Varied genres

Each of the 10 train carriages has been specially designed to reflect a different film genre.

The romance carriage, painted purple and pink, had artificial roses hanging from the ceiling and velvet seats with cushions; the war and peace carriage was decked out with army camouflage netting.

Small video monitors broadcast highlights of films, including classics and previews of new movies, as well as news and commercials from sponsors.

Car culture

Organisers say they want to make travelling on the subway a more enjoyable experience.

Seoul's subway system - which carries around six million passengers a day - is clean, efficient and cheap.

But the car culture is still strong in South Korea, where around a quarter of the population owns a car.

The hope is that if a ride on the subway can be made fun, as well as convenient, more people may be persuaded in the future, to leave their cars at home.