00:00workers for Hyundai stand in line for full-body searches
00:05in hand and ankle cuffs. In all, 475 people were arrested in an immigration raid at the
00:16South Korean carmaker's flagship battery plant under construction in the U.S. state of Georgia.
00:22The raid on Thursday was the largest single-site operation in the U.S. Homeland Security Department's
00:3123-year history, part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants. Over 300 of the detained
00:38are South Korean citizens who came to work on the plant. U.S. security officials say they suspect
00:44the workers of entering the country illegally were overstaying their visas.
00:48Together, we are sending a clear and unequivocal message that those who exploit our workforce,
00:56undermine our economy, and violate federal laws will be held accountable.
01:01Hyundai says none of the people who were arrested are company employees,
01:05but indicated that they may have been contractors or subcontractors.
01:11The South Korean government has been on high alert. After an emergency meeting on Saturday,
01:17the country says it's ready to hold talks with Washington to resolve the issue.
01:25In the course of U.S. law enforcement, the rights of our people and the economic activities of South
01:31Korean investors in the U.S. must not be unjustly infringed upon. President Lee Jae-myung also ordered
01:38our embassy in the U.S. and the consulate general in Atlanta to make all-out efforts to resolve this
01:44matter swiftly. Hyundai's Georgia plant, what officials call the state's largest economic
01:50development project, is one of South Korea's current or pledged investments in the U.S.
01:55automobile industry. The country has been in negotiations with the U.S. to lower the tariff
02:00rate on cars from the current 25 percent to 15 percent. In return, South Korea would invest
02:07350 billion U.S. dollars in the United States, though talks have hit a snag recently. South Korea
02:14also faces imminent pressure from competitor Japan, another major auto exporter, which has shaken hands
02:21with the U.S. on a 15 percent tariff rate for imports of its cars. Now, with hundreds of South
02:27Korea citizens detained in the U.S., any hope of moving forward on a stalled trade deal may be far off.
02:34Lee Sin Chen in our ring-lin for Taiwan Plus.
Comments