More than 300 Korean citizens return home after an ice attack
South Korea has signed a contract with the United States following an ice attack at the Hyundai Battery Factory in Georgia. Over 300 Koreans return home.
South Korea, South Korea, September 12 (Reuters) – About 300 Korean workers returned home on Friday, a week after being detained in a massive US immigration attack on Georgia’s Battery Project site.
Workers wearing face masks began to unload chartered planes at Incheon Airport, greeted with cheers from staff, including the president’s chief of staff.
Their returns concluded a week of intense negotiations by Seoul, winning a release and then took them home after being detained in handcuffs and shackles.
Korean companies have long struggled to obtain the right visa for professional workers, which they need at once on project sites. This has led to workers relying on the grey areas of US visa enforcement.
According to the South Korean Foreign Minister who visited Washington this week, both countries are considering establishing a working group to consider a new type of visa for Koreans.
Workers, including 10 from China, three from Japan and Indonesians, also met with the families and officials of LG Energy Solution 373220.ks and its subcontractors. The battery company is partnering with Hyundai Motor 005380.KS to build a factory in Georgia.
The attack terrified Koreans and threatened to destabilize relations as the country was about to complete a trade deal that included a $350 billion investment fund to support strategic US industry.
One sign of resentment is that at the gate of arrival, someone unfolds a poster depicting President Donald Trump wearing the initials and clothes of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office, carrying a bag full of dollar bills with a machine gun placed on his chest. The caption read, “We are friends!”
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who flew to Washington this week to call for a quick resolution, called on US authorities to devise a new visa for workers in South Korean companies investing in the US.
President Lee Jae Myung warned on Thursday that the incident would allow South Korean companies to hesitate to invest in the US when Trump was trying to encourage foreign investment in manufacturing.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Jihoon Lee, Additional reporting by Ju-Min Park and Hyunjoo Jin, Editing by Ed Davies and Edwina Gibbs)
