Hyundai CEO Discusses Immigration Raid on Georgia Plant

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00:00So that was a bad surprise, and the number one surprise was that I received a phone call,

00:06and then what happened, and it was not our plant, but it was portrayed as if it was our plant.

00:13It was an LG plant, and then we are shareholders, but it's a separate plant from the assembly plant.

00:20Well, I think there was a kind of independent activity from either the federal government and the state government.

00:30I got a phone call from the White House apologizing for what happened.

00:35They were not aware. They didn't know why this is happening when the company, as part of the South Korea tariff negotiation,

00:42is really making big commitments to invest in the country.

00:45As I mentioned earlier, $26 billion in the next four years versus $20.5 billion in the last 40 years,

00:53which is the time we favorited in the U.S. That was kind of a big surprise.

00:57The governor of Georgia, Governor Kemp, also called me and said, you know, I don't know what happened.

01:04This is not a state jurisdiction.

01:06So apparently somebody made a phone call and made it look like there were illegal immigrants.

01:13That's absolutely not the case.

01:16And in fact, President Trump didn't want those workers to get back to Korea.

01:20The fact is there are a number of jobs that require to be specialized,

01:26and in particular in the battery business and a number of processes and technologies

01:31that are not available in a very well-developed country like the United States.

01:35And then you need to bring specialized people to do it.

01:37The system, the immigration system, does not recognize that.

01:41So I think if we want to be positive, I always try to apply the PMA attitude, positive mental attitude, right?

01:48So the good thing is that as a result, we've had a lot of discussions with the federal government,

01:55with the state, with the immigration authorities, both in Korea and in the United States.

01:59And now we're finding very good permanent solution, not only for our suppliers like LG, but for our own people.

02:08We have thousands of people who come and help us to establish the operation, and then they go back to Korea.

02:13And I think for others as well.

02:15We're coordinating much better among all the companies that are impacted.

02:20And I think at the same time...

02:22And it has indented, actually, your commitment to the U.S. in the slightest.

02:25Not at all.

02:26Not at all.

02:26I mean, we need to look at the things in the long term.

02:29This happened right one week before we were having the very first CEO Investor Day outside of Korea in the history of the company.

02:39And it was me, the first non-Korean CEO, making the presentation in New York.

02:42And they asked me, are you going to change your plans?

02:45Oh, no.

02:46We are not here for the short term.

02:48We've been in this country for many years.

02:49This is the number one market.

02:51It's what we make the most.

02:52We cannot just simply because something happened, which is obviously an accident.

02:57And then you get even apologies from the president of the United States just saying that this is going to change our plan.

03:03No, on the contrary.

03:04I said we double down.

03:06We want to maintain our investment in the country.

03:09We want to maintain our instant credit.

03:11So it was a巡� Ilsчик story.

03:13I hope you enjoy incorporating that in this country.

03:17And I'm glad that you know it's lucky.

03:18I'm glad that youendy or New York should come to do.

03:19Have a lot of good idea.

03:20Let's try it.

03:21Bye-bye.

03:22Let me see you.

03:23Bye-bye.

03:24Bye-bye.

03:25Bye-bye.

03:27Bye-bye.

03:28Bye-bye.

03:29Bye-bye.

03:35Bye-bye.

03:36Bye-bye.

03:37Bye-bye.

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