South Korea outraged at 300 workers treated as 'prisoners of war' in US raid

[dalton99a]

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/sep/12/south-korean-outrage-at-us-detention-ordeal-as-300-workers-return-home

South Korea outraged at 300 workers treated as ‘prisoners of war’ in US raid
As Hyundai-LG workers fly home after visa ordeal, Koreans bristle at ‘humiliation’ and sense of betrayal by Seoul’s ally
Raphael Rashid in Incheon, South Korea
Fri 12 Sep 2025 08.07 EDT

More than 300 South Korean workers arrived at Incheon international airport on Friday afternoon, ending a week-long ordeal that began with the US Department of Homeland Security’s largest ever single-site raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and has left South Korea questioning whether it can trust its closest ally.

The 316 Koreans, along with 14 workers of other nationalities, landed shortly after 3pm local time on a chartered Korean Air flight after being detained since 4 September at a Hyundai-LG battery plant construction site in Georgia.

There was widespread anger across the political spectrum in South Korea at the behaviour of the US authorities, with one newspaper referring to the workers being treated like “prisoners of war” and another describing Koreans as feeling stabbed in the back by their closest ally.

The workers had been building a $4.3bn (£3.2bn) battery plant, which is crucial to Hyundai’s electric vehicle ambitions in the US. Most were employed by LG Energy Solution or its subcontractors.

The detention stemmed from workers using B1 business visas and the 90-day visa waiver programme (Esta) for what US authorities deemed actual employment rather than permitted activities such as meetings or training.

Korean companies have long relied on this “grey zone” because the official H-1B work visas take months to obtain and South Korea lacks the dedicated quota allocations that other US trade partners enjoy. Previous US administrations had largely turned a blind eye to the practice.

The South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, delivered his sharpest warning yet to Washington on Thursday, stating that Korean businesses would “hesitate to make direct investments” if the US failed to resolve visa issues quickly.

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Who wants to work in a third-world shithole run by a demented sadistic mob boss

[ImNotGod]

1. When you do business with a fascist shithole country shit happens. nt

[republianmushroom]

2. America's Gestapo.

[Silent Type]

3. Apparently, factory will be delayed several months due to raid. This is in area of Georgia where jobs are needed.

[Alliepoo]

4. I can answer their question about trusting us.

As long as maga is in power S Korea is not one of our closest allies. MAGA is too ignorant to recognize the importance of our two countries relationship. So, NO, you cannot trust the US in any way for anything as long as the current regime is squatting in our White House or any subsequent maga is in power (god forbid).

[Takket]

7. I don't think even electing Democrats will ever regain trust.

Don't get me wrong... money talks. If Democrats reopen America again to the global economy, investment WILL come.

but after drumpf's first term, I think the world kind of laughed it off and said "phew! That sucked, but welcome back America!"

Now that we've re-elected him, it will likely take at least a decade if not longer of Democratic rule to regain any trust. Even if a Democrat is elected in 2028, the rest of the world has to be looking at us and saying "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." They are going to know that if the American people decide to vote like fucking idiots again in 2032, that America is going to plunge right back into fascism again. and I cannot offer a single person a reason to believe that Americans won't keep on voting like fucking idiots.

[Alliepoo]

8. Exactly!

Perfectly said!

[CatWoman]

5. here's the idiot who tipped off ice

?si=t5v9K3O6HrtBBYIN

[Takket]

6. so let me get this straight......

drumpf demands foreign companies/nations invest in the USA and build their products here or suffer huge tariffs. Hyundai, for all intents and purposes, is doing exactly what he wants. Investing $5 billion in a new plant here, employing American workers to staff said plant........

And this is the thanks they get?

I'm stunned the international community hasn't yet put a trade embargo on the US over what they are doing not just to South Korea but to the entire global trade community.

We are global pariahs.