South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Saturday ordered an all-out response after hundreds of South Korean nationals were detained in a U.S. immigration raid at a Hyundai car battery plant in Georgia.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the government had set up a special team to respond to the arrests and could dispatch him to Washington for talks if necessary.
“I am deeply concerned. I feel heavy responsibility for the arrests of our citizens,” Cho told an emergency government meeting.
The raid, carried out Thursday at the facility near Savannah, saw around 475 workers detained, including more than 300 South Koreans.
U.S. officials described it as the largest single-site immigration enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.
Video released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday showed rows of detainees lined up against the plant walls before being loaded onto buses. The operation, dubbed “Operation Low Voltage,” involved more than 400 law enforcement officers after a months-long investigation.
Homeland Security officials said those detained had either crossed the border illegally or overstayed visas.
The crackdown, part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s stepped-up immigration enforcement, risks straining ties with Seoul at a time when the two allies are already at odds over trade. South Korea has pledged $350 billion in investment in the United States under a bilateral deal whose implementation details remain contentious.
LG Energy Solution, Hyundai’s joint venture partner in the plant, said 47 of its employees were among those arrested, along with about 250 contractor staff.
The company has recalled employees from U.S. business trips and suspended all non-essential travel to the United States.
Hyundai said none of those detained were directly employed by the automaker. Chris Susock, the company’s chief manufacturing officer for North America, has assumed governance of the Georgia site, with Hyundai pledging to investigate all suppliers and subcontractors.
The Savannah-area facility is a key part of Hyundai’s expansion into the U.S. electric vehicle market, and the raid marks a significant disruption for one of the largest South Korean investments in the country.
The White House said Friday that “any foreign workers brought in for specific projects must enter the United States legally and with proper work authorizations.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed regret and concern, with spokesperson Lee Jae-woong saying, “The economic activities of our companies investing in the United States and the interests of our citizens must not be unduly violated during the course of U.S. law enforcement.”
The U.S. Department of Justice said several workers attempted to flee during the raid, with some pulled from a sewage pond on the site.
Hyundai shares fell 0.7% on Friday while LGES stock dropped 2.3% as investors reacted to the disruption.
Political reaction in Georgia has been divided: the state’s Democratic Party condemned the raid as “politically-motivated fear tactics,” while Governor Brian Kemp’s office said Georgia would continue to enforce state and federal immigration laws.
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The global recall of Airbus A320 aircraft has triggered widespread disruption across several major airlines, forcing flight cancellations in the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
U.S. investigators have recovered the black box recorders from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in flames on takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky. At least twelve people died. The crash sent a wall of fire into an industrial corridor and forced the shutdown of the airport.
Pope Leo visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on Saturday, stepping inside one of the most iconic sites of the Muslim world. He removed his shoes at the entrance in a gesture of respect. He did not appear to pray.
Russian drones and missiles struck several districts of Kyiv early on Saturday, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen. Fires swept through residential blocks as debris rained over the city.
At least 47 people have died and another 21 are reported missing following ten days of heavy rainfall, floods, and landslides across Sri Lanka, local media reported on Thursday (27 November).
Hong Kong fire authorities said they expected to wrap up search and rescue operations on Friday after the city's worst fire in nearly 80 years tore through a massive apartment complex, killing at least 128 people, injuring 79 and leaving around 200 still missing.
Netflix crashed on Wednesday for about an hour in the U.S. as it launched season five of "Stranger Things", with the service becoming inaccessible to many subscribers within minutes of the episodes going live at 8 p.m. local time.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited sailors aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in the Latin American region on Thursday, amid a military buildup by President Donald Trump’s administration that has heightened tensions with Venezuela.
French health experts are warning that the highly pathogenic H5 strain of bird flu, already devastating wild and farm animals, could evolve into a virus capable of human-to-human transmission — potentially sparking a pandemic worse than COVID-19.
The global recall of Airbus A320 aircraft has triggered widespread disruption across several major airlines, forcing flight cancellations in the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Pope Leo visited Istanbul’s Blue Mosque on Saturday, stepping inside one of the most iconic sites of the Muslim world. He removed his shoes at the entrance in a gesture of respect. He did not appear to pray.
Russian drones and missiles struck several districts of Kyiv early on Saturday, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen. Fires swept through residential blocks as debris rained over the city.
Shoppers packed malls and downtown streets in Caracas on Black Friday (28 November) as retailers offered discounts despite Venezuela’s prolonged economic crisis. Customers queued in shoe and electronics stores and browsed signs advertising cuts of up to 50%.
The famed Nuremberg Christmas Market opened on Friday (28 November) with its traditional ceremony featuring the Nuremberg Christkind, an angel-like child figure said to deliver Christmas gifts in some European countries.
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