South Korea asks US Congress to support a new visa, workers heading home
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Detainees are made to stand against a bus before being handcuffed during a raid by federal agents in Georgia on Sept 4.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL - South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has called for the US Congress to support a new visa for Korean businesses, the ministry said on Sept 12, as hundreds of South Korean workers arrested
During his meetings with US senators in Washington, Mr Cho reiterated concerns among South Koreans over the arrests of Korean professionals that participated in investment projects in the US, the ministry said in a statement.
A plane carrying more than 300 workers from South Korea who were detained during the raid at a Hyundai battery factory in Georgia last week left the US, bound for South Korea.
After being held for a week by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the South Korean workers have been released and flown from Atlanta.
The raid that sent shockwaves across South Korea has threatened to destabilise ties at a time when both countries are seeking to finalise a trade deal, and to scare off South Korean investment in the US that US President Donald Trump has been keen to secure.
Following the raid, the battery plant is facing a minimum start-up delay of two to three months, Hyundai chief executive Jose Munoz said on Sept 11.
In the wake of the raid, Washington and Seoul have agreed to discuss establishing a new visa category for South Koreans, Mr Cho has said.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sept 11 that hundreds of South Korean workers arrested during the immigration raid had the wrong visas.
“I called up the Koreans. I said, ‘Oh, give me a break. Get the right visa and if you’re having problems getting the right visa, call me,’” Mr Lutnick said in an interview with Axios.
South Korean companies have complained for years that they have struggled to obtain short-term work visas for specialists needed at their high-tech US plants, and had come to rely on a grey zone of looser interpretation of visa rules under previous US administrations.
“Minister Cho emphasised that fundamental preventative measures are essential to ensure that our workforce is not subjected to unfair treatment in order to fulfil our companies’ investment commitments to the United States,” the ministry said in a statement. REUTERS
