{"id":163379,"date":"2025-09-06T14:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T14:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/south-korea-vows-all-out-efforts-to-help-hundreds-detained-in-raid-at-hyundai-facility-in-georgia-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T14:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T14:13:08","slug":"south-korea-vows-all-out-efforts-to-help-hundreds-detained-in-raid-at-hyundai-facility-in-georgia-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/south-korea-vows-all-out-efforts-to-help-hundreds-detained-in-raid-at-hyundai-facility-in-georgia-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea vows 'all-out efforts' to help hundreds detained in raid at Hyundai facility in Georgia – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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South Korean President Lee Jae-myung<\/a> ordered \u201call-out efforts\u201d to respond to the arrests of hundreds of its citizens in an immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia<\/a>, as the key American ally and trading partner reeled from the news.
Federal and immigration agents arrested 475 people<\/a> \u2014 mostly South Korean nationals \u2014 while executing a judicial search warrant as part of a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful employment at the facility.
At an emergency government meeting Saturday, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun<\/a> said he was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d and felt \u201cheavy responsibilities for the arrests of our citizens.\u201d
His foreign ministry told NBC News that the government had set up a response team and that he was prepared to travel to Washington to meet officials if needed, while Cho reiterated earlier remarks made by Lee that the rights of South Koreans \u201cmust be not unjustly infringed.\u201d
The raid, part of the Trump administration\u2019s escalating crackdown on migrants<\/a>, was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.
A sea of agents from HSI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies showed up Thursday to the site in the town of Ellabell where Hyundai and LG Energy Solution are jointly building a battery plant next to their manufacturing facility for electric vehicles.
LG Energy Solution said Saturday that 47 of its employees were detained, 46 of them Korean. Another 250 personnel from \u201cequipment partner companies,\u201d most of them Korean, were also being held, it added.
\u201cWe are making every possible effort on all fronts for the prompt release of our personnel and partner company staff who have been detained,\u201d the company said, adding that it had suspended employees\u2019 business travel to the U.S. and urged those already there to \u201creturn home or remain at their accommodations.\u201d
Hyundai said none of those detained were directly employed by the firm.
Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration attorney representing two of the detained South Korean nationals, told NBC News on Friday that his clients were in the U.S. on the Visa Waiver Program which permits tourism or business stays of up to 90 days.
\u201cI\u2019m convinced neither of these guys are violating their status in any way,\u201d Kuck said, adding that both of his clients are process engineers who came over for meetings related to the construction of the new plant.
No criminal charges in connection to the investigation had been filed as of Friday.
The incident threatens to strain ties with South Korea, the world\u2019s 10th-largest economy.
The raid came just 11 days after a summit between Trump and Lee at the White House<\/a>, where South Korean firms pledged $150 billion in U.S. investments. In July, Seoul pledged another $350 billion in U.S. projects in an effort to reduce Trump\u2019s threatened tariffs, which he later set at 15%.
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the opposition People Power Party, warned in a Facebook post Saturday that the raid \u201ccould lead to wider repercussions for South Korean businesses and communities throughout the U.S.\u201d
\u201cThis incident goes beyond a simple crackdown on undocumented immigrants and is a very serious matter,\u201d he said, urging the government to safeguard \u201coverseas Koreans and the rights of our businesspeople.\u201d
\u201cAt a time when numerous South Korean companies are building factories and expanding investments across the U.S., repeated mass arrests of workers will inevitably escalate into a national-level risk,\u201d he added.
A party spokesperson called the raid a \u201cdiplomatic disaster\u201d and asked whether South Korea had been \u201cslapped in the face after making huge investments.\u201d
South Korea\u2019s largest daily, Chosun Ilbo, struck a similar tone, framing the arrests as a betrayal and a harsh blow to South Korea.
\u201cAfter Investing in \u2018Trump MAGA,\u2019 What Came Back Was the Arrest of 300 Koreans,\u201d the headline read.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told NBC News on Friday that President Donald Trump remains committed \u201cto make the United States the best place in the world to do business, while also enforcing federal immigration laws.\u201d
Freddie Clayton is a freelance journalist based in London.\u00a0
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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