Airline operators cut some routes between China and South Korea as the fallout spread on Friday from a diplomatic row over Seoul’s plans to deploy a U. S. m
SHANGHAI – Airline operators cut some routes between China and South Korea as the fallout spread on Friday from a diplomatic row over Seoul’s plans to deploy a U. S. missile defense system regardless of Beijing’s objections.
In a statement on its website Korea’s Eastar Jet Inc. said it was stopping flights between the South Korean cities of Cheongju and the tourist hot spot Jeju with various Chinese cities including Ningbo, Jinjiang and Harbin.
This followed Carnival Corp.’s Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd canceling South Korean port visits by their China-based cruises. Royal Caribbean cited “recent developments regarding the situation in South Korea.”
A South Korean government document said China recently gave a “7-point” verbal instruction to travel firms to curtail or ban trips to South Korea.
The crackdown has sent a chill across South Korea’s retail and tourism sectors, which rely heavily on China trade, and prompted South Korea to say it will consider filing a complaint against China to the World Trade Organization over what it described as trade retaliation over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment issue.
