South Korean Foreign Minister
Updated : 2025-09-08 21:41:40 KST
South Korean Foreign Minister flies out to D.C. to ensure swift, safe return of detained Koreans in Georgia
After negotiations with the U.S., Seoul has secured an agreement to release and bring back to Korea all the Korean nationals detained in the immigration raids at Hyundai's Georgia plant. Ensuring the swift implementation of this plan, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun took off for Washington, D.C. just minutes before our newscast. Our Oh Soo-young starts us off. South Korea is organising a chartered plane to bring 300 detained nationals home from the United States, after they were arrested on suspicion of illegal stay and employment.
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A Foreign Ministry official said on Monday that the government has negotiated the release all Koreans arrested at the Hyundai-LG battery plant last Thursday, though voluntary departure. This is the fastest and surest path to their release compared to deportation or an immigration trial. While officials hope to schedule the chartered flight at the earliest possible date, with September 10th mentioned in media reports,.. the ministry says the timing has not yet been confirmed. The date of return depends on the pace of administrative procedures like ID checks, and obtaining each person's consent for voluntary departure.
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Individuals are free to remain and fight the legality of their arrest in court,.. but the ministry noted they would likely stay under detention. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun set off for Washington, D.C., late on Monday, to ensure that the release of Korean nationals and their return by chartered flight goes ahead smoothly without any last-minute hurdles from U.S. agencies. He's also likely to urge the U.S. not to penalise or discriminate them upon future visits to the U.S.,.. as complications remain even under voluntary departure, depending on each individual's visa or immigration status.
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penalise 처벌하다[벌을 주다]
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"I will go to the U.S. to resolve this quickly and ensure those detained can return in good health. Also, I will negotiate with the U.S. on long-term systematic changes to ensure this problem does not come up again." The raid last week by U.S. immigration authorities took place at a factory that's part of Hyundai's 12.6 billion dollar investment in Georgia known to be the largest economic development project in the state's history. Cho Hyun told lawmakers Monday, at an emergency foreign affairs committee session, that Seoul and Washington reached "a broad agreement" to ensure those detained do not face disadvantages when they seek re-entry to the U.S. He said the final details have not been settled, but claimed negotiations are going well "in a direction that avoids five-year entry bans."
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Beyond that, the foreign minister is likely to press for a fundamental solution, seeking more reliable visa pathways for Korean businesses bringing high tech operations and workers to America, as the Trump Administration continues to urge allied nations to invest in the U.S. Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
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영어 원문 출처 및 동영상 링크;
arirang news/Foreign Policy
https://m.arirang.com/news/view?id=286972
