SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s foreign minister departed for the U.S. on Monday to finalize steps for the return of several hundred South Korean workers detained in a massive immigration raid in Georgia, a spectacle that has caused confusion, shock and a sense of betrayal among many in the U.S.-allied nation.
The Sept. 4 raid on a battery factory under construction at a sprawling Hyundai auto plant resulted in the detainment of 475 workers, more than 300 them South Koreans. Some were shown being shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists in video released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
South Korea announced Sunday that the U.S. has agreed to release them and that it would bring them home on a charter flight once final administrative steps are completed.
President Donald Trump said the workers “were here illegally,” and that instead, the U.S. needs to work out arrangements with countries like South Korea to bring their experts in to train U.S. citizens to do work such as battery and computer manufacturing.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters in London that Trump sent a “powerful” message to investors and their employees.
“His message today that he sent to the world was, ‘Listen, our laws will be enforced, and we’re encouraging all companies who want to come to the United States and help our economy and employ people, that we encourage them to employ U.S. citizens and to bring people to our country that want to follow our laws and work here the right way,’” she said.
South Korean politicians roiled
Appearing at a legislative hearing before his departure, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun called the raid “a very serious matter” that he hadn’t anticipated at all, as many lawmakers lamented the American operation.
Another lawmaker, Kim Gi-hyeon from the conservative opposition People Power Party, said the “unacceptable” raid dealt South Korea a “severe blow that will be difficult to heal.”
Some lawmakers even called for the government to retaliate by investigating Americans who are alleged to work illegally in South Korea.
Seoul has expressed regret over the raid, but experts say it won’t likely take any major tit-for-tat measures given the country’s security dependence on the U.S. in deterring potential North Korean aggressions and other spheres of cooperation between the two countries, including business ties.
Many South Koreans are stunned
The Trump administration has made a series of workplace raids to fulfill its mass deportation agenda, but this was the Homeland Security agency’s largest yet at a single site, and targeted Georgia, a symbol of bilateral cooperation where many large South Korean businesses operate and plan future investments.
Particularly stunning is that this raid came only weeks after South Korea promised to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into U.S. investments as part of a tariff deal, and days after Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung held their first summit meeting in Washington on Aug. 25.
“The way that Trump is pressuring the Korean government and inflicting damages on its people is very rough and unilateral,” said Kim Taewoo, former head of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification. “Can this be forgotten easily in South Korea? In a long-term perspective, it won’t be good for U.S. national interests as well.”
