Seoul [South Korea], September 14 (ANI): A senior US State Department official on Sunday expressed regret over the recent mass detention of South Korean workers in the United States and pledged to prevent similar occurrences, Yonhap reported.
Christopher Landau, Deputy Secretary of State, visited Seoul for a meeting with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo.
According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, Landau conveyed his deep regrets over the detention of hundreds of South Korean workers in an immigration crackdown earlier this month at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site for a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County, Georgia. A total of 316 South Korean workers returned home Friday after being held in a detention center for a week, Yonhap reported.
Landau also told Park that the two allies should use the incident as an opportunity to further strengthen bilateral ties and improve relevant systems where necessary, according to the ministry. He added that US President Donald Trump has taken a keen interest in the matter and ensured that those who have returned home would not face disadvantages when reentering the United States. Washington would also seek to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Landau proposed working-level talks on issuing proper visas for South Korean workers in the US, highlighting the need to provide institutional support for South Korean companies’ investments contributing to the American economy and manufacturing.
In response, Park addressed the inconveniences faced by South Korean workers during detention, noting that the general public in South Korea, as well as the workers themselves, were deeply shocked by the crackdown, Yonhap reported. She strongly urged the US to take practical steps and implement systematic improvements to ease the concerns of South Koreans. (ANI)
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