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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Russia is holding a significantly scaled-back Victory Day parade in Moscow on 9 May 2026, reflecting heightened security concerns and the ongoing war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
Efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war appeared to stall as the two sides exchanged fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz. A reported CIA assessment suggested Tehran could withstand a U.S. naval blockade for months despite mounting sanctions and renewed Gulf attacks.
Somalia is facing a severe malnutrition crisis and urgently needs additional humanitarian funding to prevent conditions deteriorating further, the World Food Programme has warned.
The U.S military said it carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran on Thursday (7 May). Meanwhile, Iran's Joint Military Command accused the U.S. of breaching the ceasefire, by striking an Iranian oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and launching attacks on several Iranian cities.
The U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz, though both sides signalled they did not want escalation. The clashes come as Washington awaits Tehran’s response to a proposed deal to end the war while leaving key disputes, such as Iran’s nuclear programme, unresolved for now.
Singapore has isolated and is testing two of its residents who travelled aboard a cruise ship linked to a deadly hantavirus outbreak, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday.
Efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war appeared to stall as the two sides exchanged fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz. A reported CIA assessment suggested Tehran could withstand a U.S. naval blockade for months despite mounting sanctions and renewed Gulf attacks.
Ukraine’s military said it struck a Russian Karakurt-class small missile carrier in the Caspian Sea near Russia’s Dagestan region on Thursday. The extent of the damage is still being assessed, according to Kyiv.
Somalia is facing a severe malnutrition crisis and urgently needs additional humanitarian funding to prevent conditions deteriorating further, the World Food Programme has warned.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to carry on as leader on Friday (8 May) after his ruling Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections. Labour lost hundreds of councillors across the country, as some figures in the party said he should stand down.
Indonesian rescue teams have located two Singaporeans who went missing after Mount Dukono erupted on Friday (8 May) on the island of Halmahera, though authorities say it remains unclear whether they are alive.
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The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified files on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) on Friday (8 May), following an order from President Donald Trump. U.S. officials described as a push for “unprecedented transparency”.
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