South Korea releases impounded China cruise ship

A Chinese luxury cruise ship impounded in South Korea for days due to a legal dispute has been released and returned to China, an official said Tuesday. The 47,000-ton cruise liner Henna -- that was carrying 1,600 passengers -- had been held at South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju since arriving on Friday. It had been scheduled to return to China after sailing around the Korean peninsula. But a Jeju court banned the ship from leaving after a seizure request was made by Hong Kong-based Shagang Shipping, citing an apparent debt default. The Beijing-based operator of the ship, HNA Cruise, paid a bond of 3.0 billion won ($2.7 million) to the court, which then released the ship on Monday, a South Korean HNA agent said. A large number of passengers had already returned to China on special chartered flights organized by HNA. About 2.8 million Chinese visited South Korea in 2012, more than a quarter of the total 11 million foreign tourist arrivals.