\n<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun says he is \u2018deeply concerned\u2019 over detention of 300 South Koreans, while opposition calls it a \u2018grave matter\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n Published On 6 Sep 2025<\/span>6 Sep 2025<\/span><\/p>\n South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has ordered all-out efforts to respond to the arrests of hundreds of the country\u2019s citizens in an immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor-LG car battery factory in the United States.<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s arrest of some 475 workers \u2013 more than 300 of them South Korean nationals \u2013 at the plant near Savannah in the southern US state of Georgia was the largest single-site enforcement operation carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an arm of the US Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/p>\n South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Saturday said President Lee has instructed officials to swiftly resolve the matter, stressing that the rights and interests of South Korean nationals and the business operations of South Korean companies investing in the US \u201cmust not be infringed upon\u201d, South Korea\u2019s official Yonhap news agency said in a report.<\/p>\n Cho said the government has set up a team to respond to the arrest of more than 300 Koreans at the facility, under construction in the southern state of Georgia, and that he may go to Washington, DC, to meet with officials if needed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply concerned and feel a heavy sense of responsibility over the arrests of our nationals,\u201d Cho was quoted by Yonhap before an emergency meeting on Saturday to tackle the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will discuss sending a senior Foreign Ministry official to the site without delay, and, if necessary, I will personally travel to Washington to hold consultations with the US administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The plant where the raid took place \u2013 part of US President Donald Trump\u2019s escalating immigration crackdown \u2013 is intended to supply batteries for electric vehicles.<\/p>\n Responding to a reporter\u2019s question about the immigration raid, Trump on Friday remarked during an event at the White House, \u201cI would say that they were illegal aliens, and ICE was just doing its job.\u201d<\/p>\n Steven Schrank, an ICE official, justified the detentions, saying some of those detained had illegally crossed the US border, others arrived with visas that prohibited them from working, and some overstayed their work visas.<\/p>\n South Korea\u2019s opposition People Power Party (PPP) reacted angrily to the detentions, warning they \u201ccould pose a serious risk\u201d to the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a grave matter that could lead to broader repercussions for Korean companies and communities across the United States,\u201d PPP chairman Jang Dong-hyeok said in a statement.<\/p>\n Senior PPP spokesperson Park Sung-hoon blamed Lee for the incident, saying his \u201cpragmatic diplomacy\u201d towards the US \u201cfailed to ensure both the safety of citizens and the competitiveness\u201d of South Korean businesses.<\/p>\n He said Lee\u2019s government even promised at least $50bn of investments during his recent meeting with Trump, a gesture that only resulted in a \u201ccrackdown\u201d against South Korean citizens.<\/p>\n In a statement, Hyundai said it was \u201cclosely monitoring\u201d the situation, adding that none of those detained \u201cis directly employed\u201d with the company.<\/p>\n LG Energy Solution said it was \u201cgathering all relevant details\u201d, adding it \u201cwill fully cooperate with the relevant authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n South Korea, Asia\u2019s fourth-biggest economy, is a key automaker and electronics producer with multiple plants in the US. Its companies have invested billions of dollars to build factories in the US, in a bid to access the US market and avoid tariff threats from Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Foreign Minister Cho Hyun says he is \u2018deeply concerned\u2019 over detention of 300 South Koreans, while opposition calls it a \u2018grave matter\u2019. Published On 6 Sep 20256 Sep 2025 South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has ordered all-out efforts to respond to the arrests of hundreds of the country\u2019s citizens in an immigration raid on a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1096,7072,680,8134,408,1771,150,702,4177,122,81,1438],"class_list":{"0":"post-19502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-aliens","9":"tag-anger","10":"tag-calls","11":"tag-detained","12":"tag-illegal","13":"tag-korea","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-rights","16":"tag-seoul","17":"tag-south","18":"tag-trump","19":"tag-workers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n