South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that a deal had been reached with Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the release and repatriation of the detained South Korean nationals who were apprehended last week in Georgia, Yonhap News reported.
A South Korean charter plane arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday to take home Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia last week. Its planned return the same day was canceled, and South Korea's Foreign Ministry later said the flight would take place Thursday at noon. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has requested they be allowed to depart without handcuffs.
A total of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Koreans, were detained in the Sept. 4 raid at the battery factory under construction at Hyundai's sprawling auto plant.
The workers were being held at an immigration detention center in Folkston, in southeast Georgia. South Korean media reported that they would be freed and bused 285 miles to Atlanta to take the charter plane. Three empty buses were parked at the detention center.
South Korean officials said they have been negotiating with the U.S. to win "voluntary" departures of the workers, rather than deportations that could result in making them ineligible to return to the U.S. for up to 10 years.
The workplace raid by the Department of Homeland Security was its largest yet. The Georgia battery plant, a joint venture between Hyundai and LG Energy Solution, is one of more than 20 major industrial sites that South Korean companies are currently building in the United States.
Rubio met with Cho at the White House Wednesday morning to discuss strengthening the U.S.-South Korea alliance and boosting U.S. manufacturing through South Korean investment, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement that made no mention of the detained South Korean nationals.
A day earlier, Cho met with executives from major South Korean companies operating in the U.S., including Hyundai, LG, and Samsung. He told them that South Korean officials are actively discussing with U.S. counterparts and lawmakers' potential legislation to establish a separate visa quota for South Korean professionals, the ministry said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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