South Koreans to leave US without handcuffs after arrest causes ‘great pain’

Hundreds of South Korean workers detained in a surprise raid in Georgia last week will be allowed to fly home on Thursday after the two countries’ top diplomats met in Washington and agreed to resolve a dispute that has roiled bilateral ties.

President Donald Trump agreed to South Korean demands that the workers not be handcuffed, and the US will consider creating a new visa category to prevent future problems, according to Yonhap News. It said 330 people, almost all of them South Korean, will be on the charter flight from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The decision will help resolve a stand-off that emerged after immigration agents in Georgia raided a joint venture between South Korean firms Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution and detained dozens of skilled engineers and subcontractors. The move clouds a new trade and investment deal between the US and South Korea and has become President Lee Jae-myung’s biggest diplomatic flashpoint since he took office in June.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun flew to Washington for a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday and voiced his “deep concern” over the incident. The detained workers had been set to depart on Wednesday but the flight was delayed. The reason was not immediately clear.

A readout of the Wednesday meeting between Cho and Rubio in Washington provided by the South Korean ministry differed sharply from the one issued by the State Department, underscoring how the focus on the incident has diverged between the two sides.

Cho noted that the arrest of the workers caused “great pain and shock among the Korean people”, according to his ministry’s readout. He told Rubio the workers “came to the US to contribute to the Trump administration’s efforts to revitalise American manufacturing by sharing their skills and expertise”, according to the statement.

  

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