A
label switching
router having an internal channel share function over an
asynchronous transfer mode that sets up an internal channel in advance of the external channel and shares it when an external channel needs to be set up, and a method for sharing an internal channel using the same. The
label switching
router includes a forwarding engine for setting up a
label switched path by using a
signaling protocol, extracting an egress forwarding engine number and a
channel identifier, allocating an extension tag, searching a previously-set internal channel, forming a
forwarding information base /
label information base including the previously-set internal
channel identifier and the extension tag, adding a header having the internal
channel identifier and extension tag to a received
internet protocol packet by referring to the
forwarding information base /
label information base, and forwarding
the internet protocol packet, and a merging unit for receiving label switched path set information from a peer forwarding engine, forming an extension information base / merging table where an internal channel identifier is mapped to an extension tag, performing merging when receiving an
internet protocol packet having the extension tag, extracting the extension tag, mapping the extension tag to the internal channel identifier, and forwarding
the internet protocol packet to an internal channel having the mapped internal channel identifier.