The repatriation of hundreds of South Korean workers arrested in an immigration raid in the United States has been delayed, officials in Seoul said on Wednesday, as frustration and anger with the Trump administration here began to mount.
It was unclear when a chartered Korean Air flight, which was previously scheduled to fly from Atlanta on Wednesday, would take off. But the plane’s departure was delayed because of issues on the American side, the South Korean foreign ministry said, without elaborating.
Last week’s images of armed U.S. agents dragging away South Korean workers in handcuffs and ankle chains from a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Ellabell, Ga., outraged many in South Korea. Seoul has tried to prevent the raid from unsettling its decades-old alliance with Washington, a key to South Korea’s security. And it has scrambled to diffuse the tension by hurriedly negotiating the workers’ release and sending a plane to pick them up.
But the raid has been raising political hackles in a country where people are known to take to the streets in anti-U.S. protests when they feel their national pride has been slighted by the Americans.
In recent days, small groups of people have held rallies near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, criticizing the way South Korean workers were treated.
Posted by John3262005
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[The statement of KCTU, South Korea’s largest labor union.](https://nodong.org/statement/7905141)
**KCTU Condemns Mass Arrest of Korean Workers at Hyundai–LG Georgia Plant, Demands End to U.S. Investments**
On the morning of the 9th, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held an emergency press conference in front of the U.S. Embassy in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, to strongly denounce the mass arrest of Korean workers during the U.S. immigration raid at Hyundai Motor–LG Energy Solution’s battery plant construction site in Georgia.
The KCTU declared: “President Trump first forced investments through tariffs, and now he has trampled on workers’ human rights. We call for a complete halt to investments in the U.S.”
The event was co-hosted by KCTU, the Korean Alliance for Independent Reunification and Peace, the People’s Action for Democracy, and the Joint Action to Stop Trump’s Threats. Participants argued: “Trump pressured Korean companies with tariff bombs, leading Hyundai and LG Energy Solution to build plants and pledge huge investments in the U.S. But in return, workers were jailed and their human rights violated.” They demanded that the Trump administration apologize to the Korean people and promise measures to prevent recurrence.
They emphasized that images of Korean workers shackled and treated like felons were broadcast worldwide: “This is a blatant violation of UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Articles 47 and 48, which guarantee the rights and safety of detainees.” They argued the incident exposes the distorted and unequal nature of the U.S.–Korea alliance: “All exploitation and plunder carried out under the shield of the alliance must end.”
Um Mi-kyung, Acting Secretary-General of the KCTU, said: “Hyundai and LG pursued profits alone and never once considered the human rights of their workers. KCTU will not tolerate such humiliating investments and labor repression. We will launch a movement to suspend U.S. investment.”
Other civil society leaders also spoke. Park Seok-woon, co-representative of People’s Action, said: “Chaining workers is an act of cruelty in direct violation of international human rights norms. A government that forces investments and shackles workers has no qualification to call itself a civilized state.” Jang Yoo-jin of the Korean Alliance for Independent Reunification and Peace added: “Only shortly after the Korean government pledged massive investments, workers were treated like criminals. The Trump administration respects neither workers nor their dignity, but pursues only America’s own interests.” Joo Jae-seok, Standing Representative of the Joint Action to Stop Trump’s Threats, stated: “Even after pouring in hundreds of billions of dollars, workers were treated like prisoners. The Korean public must confront the unequal structure of the U.S.–Korea alliance, which enforces investments by force.”
At the protest, participants staged a performance symbolizing “Trump persecuting Korean workers in chains” to dramatize their resistance. Civil society groups warned that this incident may be only the beginning: “The anger of workers and the people will not be ignored.”
KCTU announced that, starting on the 9th, it would hold one-person protests in front of the U.S. Embassy, beginning with Chairman Yang Kyung-soo. The union declared: “Neither investments nor alliances can come before workers’ rights and dignity. To protect the pride of Korean workers, we will fight to the end. This incident must prompt the Korean government to fully reconsider its U.S. investment policy, and we will mobilize public action going forward.”
https://preview.redd.it/fci89qpc6cof1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fcce64b39523d6a6d5a6b5e5d82275f20f8049f4
“End Exploitation”, “Dismantle Alliance”, “Halt US Investment”, “Tariff Bomb”, “Trump must apology”
Few signs translated.
P.S. Well done, Trump. You are giving constant flow of anti-America propaganda material of National Liberation (NL) factions ( think them as tankies ). Hyundai is also considering reopen Russian factories because more stable investment environment there.