At Incheon Airport on the 12th, as reported by Park Ji-hye of News1, a chartered plane carrying 316 Koreans who were detained and released by U.S. immigration authorities arrived at Terminal 2. On the same day, Jeseok Lee, the head of Jeseok Lee Advertising Research Institute, conducted a placard performance depicting U.S. President Donald Trump at the airport’s arrivals hall. Meanwhile, in a related development, economic officials in Georgia, USA, discussed the need for the return of Korean workers who were detained and deported after working on a Hyundai-LG Energy Solution joint mega-site battery factory. Trip Tolleson, CEO of the Savannah Economic Development Authority, emphasized the necessity of Korean technicians returning during an interview with Savannah Morning News, although he did not provide specific details.
Tolleson highlighted that only Hyundai’s Korean workforce is equipped to install the technical battery cell equipment and train U.S. employees in its use. He expressed frustration over the dependency on Korea for such skilled workers. Philip Reinert, a spokesperson, mentioned that the LG Energy Solution employees detained were temporarily in the US to assist with equipment installation and workforce training during the factory’s construction phase. Tolleson noted his ignorance of the large-scale operation by the immigration authorities that led to the Koreans’ detention.
Furthermore, Tolleson and Georgia’s Economic Development Minister, Pat Wilson, met with Hyundai’s executives in Detroit to discuss the situation, expressing their support for continuing the mega-site project. Hyundai Executive Vice President Jose Munoz anticipated a 2-3 month delay due to the immigration enforcement incident, with 316 out of 317 detained Korean workers returning to Korea on the 12th.
The Georgia government acknowledged for the first time that Korea is the largest investor through a press release on the 15th, aiming to manage the situation. Initially, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, supported the immigration enforcement, but later advocated for U.S.-Korean partnership maintenance as the situation progressed.