South Korea expresses regrets over stranded Chinese cruise liner

A senior South Korean diplomat expressed regrets over a Chinese cruise liner that was stranded on a South Korean island for two days due to a financial dispute, China's foreign ministry said Tuesday. Hundreds of Chinese tourists have been flown back home and the ship, Henna, was allowed to leave the South Korean island of Jeju on Monday night. The cruise liner was impounded following an order by a Jeju court that banned the ship from leaving due to a seizure request by the Hong Kong-based Shagang Shipping Co. Park Joon-yong, director-general in charge of Northeast Asian affairs at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, conveyed the stance to his Chinese counterpart, Luo Zhaohui, during their regular meeting in Beijing on Monday, the Chinese ministry said in a statement. "The South Korean side regrets the incident and our side hopes that it won't affect the tourism cooperation between the two nations," Park was quoted as having said in the statement. Luo lodged a "strong complaint" over the incident and "urged South Korea to take measures to prevent it from happening again," according to the statement. The Jeju court issued the order after Shagang Shipping applied for the seizure as it won a liquidation order against Grand China Shipping Hong Kong, a subsidiary of the cruise liner's operator HNA Group, for an unpaid US$58 million arbitration award in November, state-run China Daily reported on Monday. In a statement, the operator of Henna criticized the Hong Kong firm for "restricting the personal freedom of those on board and severely infringing upon the rights of innocent passengers."