ADDS MORE DETAILS; CHANGES HEADLINE, LEDE
By Berk Kutay Gokmen
ISTANBUL (AA) - Seoul's top diplomat will visit Washington this week after the government announced that talks for the release of South Korean workers detained in a recent US immigration raid in the US state of Georgia have been completed, local media reports said Sunday.
Cho Hyun is set to leave for the US on Monday, and expected to meet with Trump administration officials to request their cooperation for the release of the detained workers, as well as to discuss administration procedures, the Seoul-based Yonhap News reported, citing "multiple" diplomatic sources.
Cho is also expected to request Washington's cooperation on preventing similar incidents and underscore the need to improve the visa system for South Korean nationals travelling to the US for work.
Earlier in the day, Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon Sik during a high-level meeting between the ruling Democratic Party and the government, said that negotiations for workers' release have wrapped up, and a chartered plane will travel to the US to bring them home.
"There are still administrative procedures left," Kang said. "Once the procedures are complete the chartered plane will depart to bring our citizens."
A total of 475 people were arrested in what US officials said was a criminal investigation into alleged unlawful employment practices. More than 300 of those detained were South Koreans.
The development came after South Korean Consular officials began meeting Saturday with South Korean nationals detained in a US immigration crackdown at a Hyundai electric vehicle battery plant site in Georgia.
Officials from the Consulate General in Atlanta met with detainees at an immigration center in Folkston, following their arrests in Thursday's raid at a site in Bryan County operated by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution Ltd.
The Georgia facility has been touted by state officials as a landmark investment. Gov. Brian Kemp called it the “largest economic development project in Georgia history” when it was announced in 2023.
The plant is still under construction and had been scheduled to become fully operational next year, though that timeline is unclear after the raid.
* Aamir Latif in Karachi contributed to this report.