South Korea will dispatch a chartered flight this week to bring home hundreds of its citizens detained in a US immigration raid at a Georgia car battery plant.
A Korean Air spokesperson said on Tuesday that a Boeing 747-8i, with 368 seats, will leave Incheon International Airport as early as Wednesday for Atlanta to repatriate the workers.
US authorities last week arrested about 475 people during the raid, including nearly 300 South Koreans, at a $4.3 billion Hyundai Motor–LG Energy Solution battery plant. The site is part of a broader push to expand electric vehicle battery production in the United States.
Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has travelled to Washington seeking assurances that the detained South Koreans will be allowed to return to the US once legal procedures are resolved. Seoul has already begun repatriation efforts, according to officials who visited the workers in custody.
The operation, described as the largest single-site enforcement action in the history of the US Department of Homeland Security’s investigative arm, has heightened diplomatic tensions and raised concerns in Seoul, which is finalising a trade deal with Washington agreed in July.
The case highlights the sensitive intersection of US immigration policy with its economic and security partnership with South Korea.
