South Korea said on Monday it is reviewing possible human rights abuses that may have taken place while its citizens were detained by the United States following a large-scale immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia earlier this month.
Seoul’s announcement of the investigation comes days after the Trump administration agreed to let more than 300 detained South Korean nationals return to their home country.
“I understand that the government is conducting a more thorough review with the companies to determine whether any human rights violations occurred,” a spokesperson for South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said during a news conference.
“The foreign ministry is looking at whether our demands were properly addressed, and the companies are also conducting their own reviews, to check whether any measures were insufficient on either the Korean side or U.S. side,” the spokesperson added.
Close ties between the two allies have been strained ever since immigration officers raided the electric vehicle manufacturing facility on Sept. 4 and detained at least 316 Koreans who either lived and worked in the U.S. illegally or overstayed their visas. In total, 475 people were apprehended.
The Korean nationals returned home on Friday via a charter plane.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed on the workers’ release from detention while leaving open the possibility for them to return to the U.S. in the future. President Donald Trump wanted the skilled Korean workers to stay and train American workers, to strengthen domestic manufacturing.
“When Foreign Companies who are building extremely complex products, machines, and various other ‘things,’ come into the United States with massive Investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our Country, and back into their land,” he wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday.
Last week, South Korea’s president warned that the raid could have a chilling effect on companies’ investments in the U.S. Trump said discouraging investments wasn’t his intention.
“I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies,” he said on social media. “We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own ‘game,’ sometime into the not too distant future!”
SOUTH KOREA SAYS TRUMP OFFERED TO LET DETAINED HYUNDAI WORKERS STAY AND TRAIN AMERICANS
Hyundai, a South Korean company based in Seoul, has invested a total of $26 billion in the U.S. to be used between now and 2028.
The two countries have also been working together on finalizing a trade deal originally announced in July. The terms of the agreement involve South Korea investing $350 billion in the U.S. and buying American liquefied natural gas and other energy products. In exchange, the Trump administration will lower its tariffs on South Korean goods from 25% to 15%. South Korea’s top trade envoy is set to continue the negotiations at the White House on Monday.