A chartered plane yesterday left Seoul for the US to repatriate hundreds of South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid, flag carrier Korean Air said.
South Koreans made up the majority of 475 people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery plant under construction in Georgia last week, US immigration agents said.
The operation was the largest single-site raid conducted under US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, an investigating agent said.
Photo: Yonhap news agency via EPA
A Korean Air Boeing 747-8I, which seats more than 350 passengers, left Seoul yesterday, a company representative said.
While no official time has been given for the return flight, South Korean officials said it had been delayed “due to circumstances on the US side,” without giving details.
Local media had reported it would leave yesterday, US time.
“We are maintaining close consultations with the US authorities to secure the earliest possible departure,” the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun, who is in Washington for talks on the issue, has called the mass detention of South Koreans a “grave situation,” pledging to secure the workers’ swift return “in good health.”
Before departing, Cho told South Korean lawmakers that “a tentative agreement” had been reached with US authorities to ensure the detained workers would not face penalties, such as a five-year ban on re-entry.
“I can tell you that negotiations are going well,” he said.
The South Korean government is reportedly seeking to have the detained workers leave the US under voluntary departure rather than deportation. Cho was expected to raise the issue during his meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington yesterday.
“I feel a great responsibility that our citizens have been arrested in this manner,” Cho said during a meeting with South Korean business leaders in Washington.
Diplomatic officials had been dispatched to Georgia to mount a “full-front response,” he added, with the consulate general in Atlanta in contact with local authorities.
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