US federal law enforcement agents raided a battery joint venture between Hyundai and LG New Energy in Georgia on Thursday, taking 475 people, more than 300 of whom are Korean nationals. According to the New York Times, it was the United States Department of Homeland Security’s largest enforcement operation in a single location. Jo Hsien, the Foreign Minister of South Korea official, will travel to the US this week to deal with the issue, Yonhap news agency reported. President of South Korea’s presidential office, said Kang hoon-sik 7, on the release of the arrested negotiations have been completed. The enforcement action has tested u.s.-south Korean relations at a“Sensitive time” in the tariff negotiations, the Washington Post said Monday, south Korea has pledged $350bn in investment in the US. According to several South Korean media, the incident took the South Korean government and South Korean companies by surprise shortly after the first meeting between South Korean president Lee Jae-myung and US President Donald Trump, and caused the South Korean government and business community on the U. S. Business Environment and visa policy of serious concern. “There is an obvious contradiction between the US asking for investment and making things difficult on the grounds of personnel visas,” a South Korean media source quoted from the economic sector as saying.
Video footage of the raid released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed a South Korean employee being shackled and chained.
Korean media: the Korean government did not receive any prior notice
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US Department of Homeland Security Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Georgia state police were among the agencies involved in the joint operation, Chosun Ilbo reported Monday, they dispatched helicopters, military vehicles, etc. . Some workers were shown shackled to their hands, wrists and ankles and escorted to buses, Reuters reported.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lee jae-hsiung held a press conference on the 5th to express regret over the fact that U.S. law enforcement agencies sent people to local South Korean factories to carry out an illegal immigration crackdown, it also said the legitimate rights and interests of South Korean citizens and businesses should not be improperly infringed. South Korea’s“East Asia Daily” said the South Korean government publicly expressed regret to the United States is very rare. Yonhap quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying the South Korean government had not received any notice of the raid through diplomatic channels.
LG New Energy said it employed 47 people (46 Koreans and one Indonesian) among those taken away, and about 250 at its partner companies. The company has sent executives to the United States, the suspension of non-essential business trips to the United States, all business travelers“Immediately return to the country or stay at the residence on standby.”. Hyundai said it had not confirmed that any employees directly employed by the company had been taken away.
Schrank, the special agent in charge of the Georgia and Alabama Homeland Security Investigations, said the 475 detainees had entered the United States through a variety of means, these include illegal entry, visa-free entry without a work permit, and overstaying on a visa. The Yonhap news agency quoted a lawyer as saying that due to the long processing time for official resident visas, companies will use short-term visas or ESTA e-travel permits to deal with emergency work, the risks are heightened.
For the operation, President Donald Trump 5 in the White House Oval Office when questioned by the media, said, “These are illegal aliens in detention,” law enforcement personnel are only in the performance of their duties. Joongang Ilbo said the incident highlights Trump’s tough stance on immigration.
The report also questioned the South Korean government’s response, saying that the search warrants for the raid allegedly initially specifically listed four people from Latin , but that South Korean citizens were eventually detained on a large scale. However, Seoul did not immediately protest the situation. “Joongang Ilbo” said that currently, the South Korean ambassador to the United States, consul-general in Atlanta post is vacant, which also makes the South Korean diplomatic response on this issue appears weak.
Pour cold water on Korea-us economic cooperation
The US raid comes amid sensitive trade talks between the two governments that have raised concerns in South Korea, the BBC said Monday. The raid was widely described in South Korean media as“Shocking” and the East Asia daily warned it could“Pour cold water on our business activities in the US”. “Korea Times” 7, said the matter to Korean enterprises in the United States investment“Cast a shadow.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the raid was an accidental collision of two key policies of the Donald Trump administration: cracking down on illegal immigration and rebuilding American manufacturing. Yonhap News Agency said the US had urged South Korean investment in the US while enforcing strict laws on short-term visas, lead to project progress and the resident visa approval cycle, eligibility restrictions between the“Dislocation.”. According to the Korean economic daily, several people from South Korean companies are concerned that engineers and technicians who enter the country for short periods on ESTA or B1 visas will be included in the strict law enforcement scope, projects under construction could come under pressure from both delays and rising compliance costs, forcing companies to reassess the pace and scale of new investment in the US.
Joongang Ilbo quoted industry sources as saying that the raid was actually pressuring South Korean companies to hire more American workers. However, it is still difficult to find Americans with the necessary expertise, especially during the construction and early operational stages of a plant.
Yonhap news agency noted that the Japanese media also gave this matter close attention. The report quoted the Japan Economic News as saying that the US government’s action showed that foreign-owned factories could also be subject to its regulation and that foreign companies, including Japanese ones, could be more vigilant in the future.
“U.S. policy creates high levels of uncertainty.”
“South korea-us relations may be affected as a result,” the newspaper said, adding that the raid came less than two weeks after a meeting between South Korean and US leaders. Recently, Hyundai Motor Group announced in March this year has announced $21 billion in addition to the $5 billion, bringing the total investment in the United States to $26 billion. Now there are questions in South Korea: “Isn’t this just being abandoned after a lot of investment?” And the Georgia plant has long been seen as a“Symbol of the manufacturing alliance” between South Korea and the US, so the impact of this enforcement action is even greater.
The battery factory project is seen as an important part of this round of U. S. manufacturing, the Korea economic daily reported. Joongang Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, said former President Biden publicly praised the project’s significance for American manufacturing and new energy industries, saying it would create 8,000 American manufacturing jobs.
South Korean Presidential Secretary of office director Kang Hoon-sik said on the 7th, the release of arrested persons negotiations have been completed, to be completed, the South Korean government will send a charter plane to the United States to pick up these people. South Korean media said that this progress means that“The situation tends to ease”, but is expected to follow-up will still have no small aftershocks. “From tariffs to entry, US policy creates a high degree of uncertainty that the Koreans find difficult to deal with,” The The Korea Herald quoted an industry source as saying yesterday. South Korean“E-news” website said that some South Korean companies are concerned that the United States may further strengthen law enforcement, which may make the business environment facing the risk of deterioration. A South Korean business people said, in semiconductors, cars, shipbuilding and other areas, also may happen at any time similar to the 4-day search operation incident. The two countries urgently need to address the issues at the government level.