South Korea in shock after 300 of its citizens are arrested in the United States
On Thursday, September 4, 475 people, including more than 300 South Koreans, were arrested near Savannah, Georgia, by immigration officers at an electric battery factory owned by South Korean giant Hyundai. This proves that investing in the American economy is not enough. In Seoul, the press is oscillating between shock and incomprehension.
In response to the arrest of more than 300 South Koreans during a raid on Thursday by immigration police on a battery manufacturing facility owned by South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution in Ellabell, Georgia, President Lee Jae Myung ordered on Saturday, September 6, to “ do everything possible ” to find a favorable outcome for his compatriots. For the time being, the majority of those arrested Thursday have been detained in the detention center run by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in Folkston, Georgia.
The raid came as a " shock " to Korean society, as an editorial in the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper noted. South Korea has been making enormous efforts to maintain relations with its American ally and has agreed for months to make significant efforts to avoid economic retaliation. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper featured a graphic video of the arrests, which showed, for example, frightened workers trying to escape federal officials by jumping into a sewage treatment plant.
“Immediately after learning of the incident, the president insisted that the rights and interests of Korean citizens and companies investing in the United States not be unfairly violated in the name of strengthening U.S. immigration law,” Foreign Minister Cho Hyun explained at a special meeting held Saturday afternoon in Seoul, The Korea Herald reported . Cho Hyun announced that he would travel to Washington in person if necessary.
What happened? A battery factory still under construction, which will supply parts for electric cars assembled at the site, was targeted in an investigation into illegal labor. “ Immigration officers entered the site at about 10:45 a.m. Thursday and began separating workers by nationality and visa status. The groups were herded onto buses ,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to Steven Schrank, an agent with the U.S. Department of the Interior's investigative branch, most of those arrested were working illegally, lacking proper visas. LG said its 48 arrested employees—47 South Koreans and one Indonesian—were on a business trip. The other 350-plus employees were employed by Hyundai and LG partner companies. " This makes it the largest single-site crackdown by the Department of Homeland Security," one official said , The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the Korea Times , LG has asked its employees in the United States to stay home and consider returning to Korea. The company has suspended business trips, and its human resources director is expected to arrive in the United States soon to investigate the incident.
Hyundai said none of its employees were arrested, but the arrests involved subcontractors, whom the giant promises it will hold accountable.
Besides the unprecedented scale of the operation, it was the context “ that made the news even more shocking ,” analyzes The New York Times . Because “ for years, the United States has been pressuring Korea to invest billions of dollars in American industries ” and Hyundai is one of the major Korean companies that invest massively in the United States. In March, Hyundai had announced $21 billion of investment.
Moreover, the Georgian complex seemed very well received by the Trump administration. “The Hyundai-LG plant, which is scheduled to begin operations within a year, is the kind of large-scale, job-creating investment [8,500 according to Hyundai] that the United States has been seeking from South Korea ,” confirms the New York Times .
