South Korea’s president yesterday said that South Korean companies would likely hesitate to make further investments in the US unless Washington changes its visa system for their employees, as US authorities released hundreds of workers who were detained from a Georgia factory site last week.
In a news conference marking 100 days in office, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called for changes to the US visa system as he spoke about the immigration raid on Thursday last week that resulted in the arrest of more than 300 South Korean workers at a battery factory under construction at Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah.
The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs later confirmed that US authorities had released the 330 detainees — 316 of them South Koreans — and that they were being transported by buses to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, where they were to board a charter flight scheduled to arrive in South Korea this afternoon.
Photo: EPA
The massive roundup and US authorities’ release of video showing some workers being chained and taken away, sparked widespread anger and a sense of betrayal in South Korea.
The raid came less than two weeks after a summit between US President Donald Trump and Lee, and just weeks after the countries reached a July agreement that spared South Korea from the Trump administration’s highest tariffs — but only after Seoul pledged US$350 billion in new US investments — against the backdrop of a decaying job market at home.
Lee said that South Korean and US officials are discussing a possible change to the US visa system, adding that under the current system South Korean companies “can’t help hesitating a lot” about making direct investments in the US.
Photo: Reuters
Lee said the raid showed a “cultural difference” between the two countries in how they handle immigration issues.
“In South Korea, we see Americans coming on tourist visas to teach English at private cram schools — they do it all the time, and we don’t think much of it, it’s just something you accept,” Lee said.
“But the United States clearly doesn’t see things that way,” he added.
US authorities said that some of the detained workers had illegally crossed the US border, while others entered legally, but had expired visas or entered on visa waivers that prohibited them from working.
South Korean officials expressed frustration that Washington had yet to act on Seoul’s years-long demand to ensure a visa system to accommodate skilled South Korean workers, although it has been pressing South Korea to expand US industrial investments.
Following a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun on Wednesday said that US officials had agreed to allow the workers detained in Georgia to later return to finish their work at the site.
He added that the countries agreed to set up a joint working group for discussions on creating a new visa category to make it easier for South Korean companies to send their staff to work in the US.
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