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South Korea to examine Georgia ICE raid for possible human rights abuses
2025.09.25 | The Washington Post 2025.09.16 |
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A South Korean worker who was detained in a U.S. immigration raid in Georgia this month is reunited with family members, friends and colleagues at Incheon International Airport in South Korea on Friday. (Jintak Han/The Washington Post) South Korea vowed to investigate whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violated human rights after it detained hundreds at a Hyundai-LG plant. By Andrew Jeong SEOUL — The South Korean government said it will look into whether human rights violations were committed against the 317 South Koreans who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Georgia this month. “We’ve expressed grave concerns to the U.S. government since this first happened,” Kang Yu-jung, a spokeswoman for the South Korean presidential office, said Monday, adding, “We plan to examine more closely whether there were issues related to our people’s rights or discomfort.” The move appears aimed at soothing an outraged South Korean public, analysts said, after ICE agents detained South Korean workers with shackles and chains on Sept. 4 while they were trying to build a joint Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia. U.S. authorities have said that some of the South Koreans had entered the country illegally or were working under improper or expired visas. The office of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday declined to provide further details about the government’s probe or what actions it would take if human rights abuses were found. Nearly all of the Korean workers who were detained by ICE have since returned to their home country voluntarily, with some telling local media that they faced poor conditions at detention centers, such as having to use and eat near open toilets. Others have said they felt they were being treated like violent criminals. The arrests were “not only a surprise, but a shock” to South Korea, said S. Paul Choi, founder of the Seoul-based StratWays Group, a geopolitical risk consultancy. “I do think South Korea remains inclined to cooperate with the U.S. and advance mutual strategic interests,” Choi said, “but the Lee Jae Myung administration is feeling real public pressure to speak up to Washington about any violations against our citizens.”  Security personnel respond to a protester at Incheon International Airport on Friday carrying a banner depicting an armed ICE officer masquerading as President Donald Trump. (Jintak Han/The Washington Post) ICE’s raid on the Hyundai-LG plant came shortly after South Korea agreed, amid broader trade deal negotiations, to invest $350 billion in the United States. Some South Koreans have pointed out that the U.S. lacks a viable visa framework that would allow skilled South Korean workers to promptly set up high-tech plants such as the one in Georgia. Companies have also faced challenges navigating the U.S. visa process given the cap on specialized work visas, such as the H-1B, which has in turn led businesses to rely on other short-term visas to send skilled workers to the U.S. Hwang Jae-ho, a professor of international studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said the event may have damaged U.S.-South Korea relations. But he also said it poses an opportunity for both sides to come together to fix the visa issue. “It is extremely doubtful that the two sides will let this become a bigger issue that could affect the alliance,” Hwang said. “It will be a bump in the road.” |
