00:00Nearly 500 people were arrested at a factory run by two of South Korea's largest companies, Hyundai and LG Energy Source.
00:08Most of them were foreigners and hundreds of them were South Koreans.
00:12This is certainly not what the South Koreans signed up for, working in the U.S. and unexpectedly being detained.
00:18We know that they had consular services and perhaps access to their medication, but we don't know a lot of detail yet.
00:25What were the exact conditions, how they fared behind bars, but we are likely to learn this as they make their way back to South Korea.
00:32Many of those individuals that were detained through that operation in Georgia, we are following the law.
00:39They are going to be deported.
00:40A few of those had criminal activity beyond just being here, passed final removal orders, and they will face the consequences for that.
00:49We're not exactly clear under what conditions these South Koreans were allowed to leave.
00:53If they were deported, that's akin to a travel ban for years and possibly many years.
00:59If they were to voluntarily leave, that comes with some strings attached.
01:02Often it requires an admission of guilt, and that means you cannot qualify for visa-free travel, and getting a business visa would be very complicated.
01:14The mood in South Korea toward the U.S. had a quick pivot after this raid.
01:19We were on a bit of a high between South Korea and U.S. relations.
01:23The president, Lee Jae-myung, had just been to the White House, and things were very cordial.
01:28There had been a trade pact struck between the two countries that mirrored what we had seen from Japan and the European Union.
01:35And then this raid happens, and South Koreans, from politicians to the newspapers to citizens in the street, felt not only fear, but anger.
01:44Seoul dispatched its foreign minister to Washington, D.C.
01:47He met Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
01:50South Korea had a lot to say about the detained South Koreans and potential solutions to create special types of visas for the country.
01:58The U.S., meanwhile, talked about the strong alliance between the two countries, but made no mention of the arrests.
02:05This will have a chilling effect, certainly in the short term.
02:08We'll have to see on the long term.
02:10So we are aware of a variety of South Korean companies pulling workers out, sending them back home.
02:17That's caused any number of construction projects to be halted.
02:21Longer term, it's going to be difficult to unravel what's tens and tens of billions of dollars that South Korean companies have bet on the U.S.
02:29I think what we see now is a bit of confusion and uncertainty around the legality of some of these workers.
02:37The site at the center of the raids is a crown jewel of South Korean investments in the U.S.
02:42It's jointly operated by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution, two of South Korea's biggest conglomerates.
02:50This not only affects what Georgia officials say is their state's largest manufacturing investment ever,
02:56but it also affects how deep-pocketed South Korean conglomerates might think about all of their projects across the U.S.
03:04and what visas they're on and how protected their workers might be.
