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South Korean companies will “hesitate” about investments in the US after a large-scale immigration raid at the Hyundai plant in Georgia last week, said President Lee Juhen.
More than 300 South Koreans who were arrested in raids should return home on Friday. Their departure was arrested “From the circumstances from the US,” the officials said.
“The situation is extremely strange,” Lee said, noting that Korean firms are a common practice to send workers to help create foreign factories.
“If it is no longer allowed, the creation of production capacities in the US will only be more difficult … To make the company call if it should be done at all.”
BBC contacted the White House for comments.
Last week, US officials detained 475 people – more than 300 of their South Korean citizens – which, according to their battery, is one of the largest foreign investment projects in the state.
Lee, who spoke at a press conference to mark the first 100 days of his presidency, said Seoul was negotiating with Washington on visa options for South Korean workers, “means providing (higher) quotas or creation of new categories of visa.”
“I think the US will consider it when they see this practical need,” he said.
The departure of the workers in the United States was stuck from the White House instructions, he added.
President Donald Trump has ordered a pause to check whether workers are ready to stay in the US to continue working and train Americans, according to a South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The LG Energy Solution, which works at the Hyundai plant, said many of its employees were arrested, there were different types of visas or were within the visa waiver program.
A The worker at the factory talked with BBC About panic and confusion during the raid. The employee said the vast majority of detained workers were mechanics who set the production lines on the spot and were occupied by the contractor.
South Korea, close to us in Asia, has pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars in America, partly to compensate for tariffs.
The media in the country described the raid as “shock” when the Dong-A ILBO newspaper warned that it could “cool down on the activities of our business in the US.”
On Thursday, Yonhap news agency published an editorial staff calling on two countries to “cooperate on crack repair in its union.”
The raid terms because two governments participate in sensitive trade talks, caused concern about Seoul.
The White House defended the operation at the Hyundai plant, rejecting the concern that the raid could restrain foreign investments.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump referred to a raid in a social media report and urged foreign companies to hire Americans.
The US government will make it “quickly and legally” for foreign firms to bring workers to the country if it was respected by immigration laws, Trump said.
