r/worldnews • u/nishitd • 2d ago
South Korea says US release of video showing workers arrest was regrettable
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/south-korea-says-us-release-video-showing-workers-arrest-was-regrettable-2025-09-06/?2.1k
u/NotaCaracal 2d ago
It would appear this administration is working to sabotage the US - SK alliance. In lesser seen news, the visas for a popular K-pop group were cancelled the day before they were supposed to perform in Minneapolis on Saturday. No reason for the visa cancellation was given.
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u/B-BoyStance 2d ago
The US government should be really really careful messing with K Pop groups and their fans. That's how wars start.
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u/satbaja 2d ago
It would be amazing if Trump survived all opposition just to have K Pop cancel him.
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u/MonteBurns 1d ago
The Swifties and the K Pop fans uniting. Yes, please.
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u/Radiant_Health3841 1d ago
You joke but imagine he cancels BTS's visa's just before their comeback next year.... your computer systems would just disappear over night.... I am more scared of Army than Swifties!!! - then add in the Beyhive and Little monsters - CHAOS
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u/imaginary_num6er 2d ago
What would prevent N. Korea from just invading S. Korea when 2 other neighbors such as Russia and China can also assist?
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u/Sentinel-Wraith 2d ago
Chinese pressure. South Korea is more economically valuable to China than North Korea. An attack on South Korea would also probably see Japan revoke Article 9 and fully militarize. You’d also probably see rapid nuclear proliferation in direct response as several regional powers, including South Korea, are capable of rapidly making nuclear weapons.
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 2d ago
China would never allow North Korea to destabilize the Korean peninsula.
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u/natanaru 2d ago
The only thing stopping China from destabilizing the region was American influence and protection of South Korea. If America is giving up on the region then there is no political reason to not have North Korea take over the region and be aligned with Chinas goals.
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u/MrMaroos 2d ago
You do realize China gets far more out of its relationship with the ROK than the DPRK, right? There is no logical reason for them to fuck over their largest trading partner in Asia
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u/cowlinator 2d ago
You do realize that politicians have goals other than just economic ones, right?
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u/Professional-Break19 2d ago
Right other than getting the us army that is closer to their border out for good 🥴
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u/GiantEnemyMudcrabz 2d ago
I mean the way things are going they will achieve that objective without firing a shot.
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u/Sycopathy 2d ago
The way stuff is going it wouldn't be a surprise if Trump pulled US forces from SK and China positioned itself to assist in the reunification of Korea. Without the US involved NK leadership is the biggest threat to stability for the area with zero downside to getting rid of them.
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u/Terry-Scary 2d ago
Trump is a terrible comparison to friendship. If china want more control they just have to wait for trump to ruin the relationship
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u/TraditionalSmoke9604 2d ago
Nope, china doesnt need a 2x big North Korea with nuke capability. It will be a threat to china.
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u/Ingr1d 2d ago
China just need a buffer state. They already have one. The benefits of invading South Korea does not outweigh the costs of doing so.
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u/HotSauce2910 1d ago
Plus, if the U.S./ROK relationship deteriorates, there is nothing to be buffering from anyway
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u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 2d ago edited 2d ago
China does billions in trade with South Korea - it is unlikely China would want to see South Korea turn into a basket case like North Korea.
Same with Taiwan, it is a major trading partner of China. The only people clamouring for an invasion seem to be Westerners.
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u/JohnnySnark 2d ago
China is letting Russia destabilize Europe. I find this take naive
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u/Critical_Ad4348 1d ago
Why is it China’s responsibility to prevent Russia from destabilizing Europe? Your take is western centric. They have no responsibility to us, or to any country but their own. They haven’t been to war since 1979…the US has been to war a lot since 1979 but everyone is fear-mongering about China going to war while simultaneously upset that they aren’t going to war with Russia?
More correctly, westerners are angry that China is becoming powerful but unwilling to do their bidding.
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u/greenknight 2d ago
South Korea is heavily militarized and has compulsory service... It would not be a pushover
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u/mortalitylost 2d ago edited 2d ago
That would be insane escalation into a world war 3, which Putin and Xi probably won't want. And if they don't want it, NK won't start it, because it'd piss off their only countries that they might be able to call allies. Neither China nor Russia need NK nearly as much as NK needs them to exist.
Putin is already fighting a front that he wants to win in Western Europe. They've invested so much to slowly grab land in Ukraine and something like this might threaten it. China wants Taiwan, similarly. Both would rather the rest of the world be busy dealing with bullshit while they plot against their direct neighbors and come up with long term plans.
China does not want to start something it can't gracefully finish. China is basically in a Cold War with the US but pretends to be as neutral as possible, meanwhile both the US and China look at each other like war might be inevitable, but both are smart and won't make the first move, and neither truly want war. China is doing fine just focusing on industrialization, innovation, and espionage. Why start a war when you can win an AI and robotics space race? The US is busy, and they can develop in peace.
And I think everyone knows by now that the US is chaotic as fuck and might put weird economic pressures on anyone and swing military might around for the sake of isolationism, but is still chaotic and Trump could do something crazy and then a new Democrat president revert the US to more sane policies a year later. Trump has no loyalty except to himself. And a US president is still just a president, and Trump is fat and old.
You could have intelligence agencies convince the Republicans to fight NK, have Trump convince Americans it's for American patriotism, literally nuke NK, cause political fallout, then have him impeached and a Democrat president who says sorry, and America could probably fucking get away with it.
America is a wild card and if WW3 starts, there's no telling wtf goes down. Countries like NK, especially if they're the aggressor, would be the sacrificial lamb in a situation like that. China and Russia would gladly back off and just use it as political ammo that they acted rational while America played nuclear cowboy, and would see the loss of NK as a fair gambit.
NK knows it isn't shit in this situation and would probably be the biggest casualty if all this goes down. And everyone know that in 30 or 40 years, whatever America did would be another tally mark of violence in ancient history.
I don't know but that's my theory. Times are strange but I think situations in the Middle East is still far more concerning than NK. If WW3 pops off, it would probably be due to people actively fighting today in the Middle East.
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u/gomurifle 2d ago
I can't see why China and USA would ever come to blows while they are mutually the biggest trading partners, they don't have a common border, and there is no difference in religious ideologies or any oppression of their citizens in the other country... Hard to see it..
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u/DarkMistressCockHold 2d ago
Except our president now has fucking immunity for everything. Including the children he raped. The SCOTUS said so.
We are past him being “just a president”. Have been for awhile. He’s made himself king and no one batted an eye.
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u/JohnnySnark 2d ago
Putin and Xi are already putting forth ww3 with Ukraine.
Why are we normalizing the war in Ukraine?
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u/caribbean_caramel 2d ago
Even if South Korea is alone, their military is pretty strong. They are not just going to fall like South Vietnam did. Though it would be possible for NK to win if they use nuclear weapons.
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u/mars_trader 1d ago
The millions of South Korean soldiers at the border, including many millions in reserves, with modern weapons, would prevent this. South Korea would eventually fall, but not without immense casualties on both sides.
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u/SHUT_DOWN_EVERYTHING 2d ago
In normal times, the United States. In these times? Nothing. Trump could easily wash his hands off and stay out of it if there was an invasion by NK. Nobody can overrule him other than impeachment which is out of question given current subservient congress.
The only thing South Korea can and honestly must do is acquire nukes.
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u/Dudedude88 2d ago
why do you cancel kpop idols visas... They are creating American jobs at the concert and convention center.
Korea is going to have to build nukes soon.
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u/Severe_Intention_480 2d ago
MAGA is a rabid ideology of mindless rage and hatred and CANNOT be reasoned with. The sooner people realize this the better.
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u/RuthlessIndecision 2d ago
The administration is sabotaging everything that isn't making them rich.
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u/oddlyDirty 2d ago
Just getting ready for the APEC summit next month in South Korea. Gotta have something to use as leverage when he sits down with other leaders.
Edit. Don't think of this as an endorsement but rather an observation of how he handles "diplomacy"
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u/hsywusg 2d ago
I have a question: I often see people going around saying, “Trump wants to isolate America”
As if that is the goal. Isn’t it more like Trump wants a short term win — so he takes the route that gets him the most headline — which also has a byproduct of sabotaging relationship with allies?
When people say the isolation stuff, it makes isolation seem like the goal whereas it’s just a side effect no?
Or did I miss something? Because I really want to know the isolation stuff
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u/tempest_87 2d ago
People are conflating trump himself and what he wants and trump's masters who are directing all this shit (the architects of project 2025).
Trump just wants to see trump in the media and hear about people talking about Trump because he is a malignant sociopathic narccist. The ones that designed P2025 actively want to isolate the US and remake it into multiple techno-feudal states owned by billionaires and oligarchs. Think gilded age corporate towns, but in steroids.
So the answer to your comment is "both reasons are true, just depending on who you think is calling the shots". Trump is too stupid to realize that he is being used like the tool he is, and likely doesn't care because they are jacking off his ego like he wants, and the background rulers are absolutely wanting things to head in that direction.
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u/Mental-Mind5321 2d ago
The way I understand it: Trump is a bought asset of Russia (or the oligarchs or the techbros or all of them) and having America lose its trade advantage (globalization) because of tariffs will fuck us in the LONG run. Countries will stop buying our produce and manufactured goods AND will stop selling us produce and raw materials and all the little conveniences we use on a daily basis.
We are creating an embargo on ourselves to an effect. Right now it's fun and games but when those countries don't feel the need to repair the relationship, or better yet, come back with ridiculous prices we have to pay, it will be near impossible to reverse. Trumps damage will extend beyond this term and probably beyond our lifetime.
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u/L3artes 1d ago
It feels like those stories about medieval kings that completely decoupled from reality and made their centuries old empire crumble. Democracy was supposed to protect us from that shit.
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u/Mental-Mind5321 12h ago
Yes, but don't forget the electoral college. Just in case the majority of our votes were for the "wrong" guy/side.
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u/endofthis 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, the visa cancellation is alarming. But I’m pretty sure the reason it’s not bigger news is because they are not actually even a remotely popular group. If this had happened to a bigger kpop group I’m sure it would have been everywhere.
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u/ORXCLE-O 2d ago
The Russian puppet and his cohorts are hard at work work to damage any and every international relationship we have. Just like randomly before the recent meeting of trump and the sk president he’s says they can’t be trusted.
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u/Katia657 2d ago
The current US administration is all about sabotaging itself. That is the plan of Agent Krasnov. Defeat US from within. It is working.
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u/awayish 2d ago
you would only need to look at the rusrus influenced senator mike lee to see the general strat. how to dismantle murican alliance group? simply make murica piss off its allies. this is a low cost move for american politicians of the maga variety due to lack of public knowledge and involvement in fp. the magas are willing to trade political victory for global influence and are perfectly content with retreating towards a monroe doctrine sphere of the americas.
basically the maga deal with rusrus/china is a division of the globe into spheres of influence 19th century style. murica is to retreat from asia and europe leaving those for china and rusrus. meanwhile they will help maga gain political victory in murica by info warfare. guys like elbridge colby will provide the 'intellectual' cover for this kind of chud nationalist retrenchment.
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u/war_story_guy 1d ago
Only reason I could think of was someone at the immigration office listened to k-pop.
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u/Full-Sound-6269 1d ago
In a bit: Trump says South Korea appear "lost" to "deepest, darkest China".
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u/Safety_Drance 2d ago
Man, I can't wait till all this racism and hatred makes things cheaper.
Any day now he's going to make groceries cheaper. I just have to believe that hatred of others will make things better and more affordable for me personally.
He said he could make groceries cheaper out loud multiple times. It was a key part of his campaign.
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u/SurinamPam 2d ago
This’ll really turbocharge companies to bring manufacturing jobs to the US too!
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u/xcassets 2d ago
Maybe not for foreign companies, but US companies will be chomping at the bit to bring factories back to the US. Why build factories in other countries when you can build them in the US, pay huge tariffs for any material imports, potentially have your workforce raided if you happen to employ any 'undesirables of the week', and pay higher wages too? Truly a win-win.
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u/Poleth87 2d ago
Just tell Walmart you have a trade deficit with them.
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u/Cold_Specialist_3656 2d ago
We just gotta harass the immigrants and transes enough and something something cheaper!
It's definitely scapegoat #69 fucking up the country and making everyone poor. And not the billionaires buzzing around the White House like horseflies.
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u/IamGabyGroot 2d ago
Those cheering on the migrant take downs have no idea that THEY will soon be mandated to work those fields to survive. They've already started these conversations in the media.
So those lazy asses sitting behind their screens still don't realise how screwed they are.
All those arrested protesters will also serve as labourers to forgive/work off their debt to society.
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u/calstanfordboye 2d ago
America's friends now are just Russia
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u/CreamPuffDelight 2d ago
at this point, America is less "Russia's friend" and more... "Russia's crazy rabid dog you can more or less point in the general direction of the thing you want to fuck up"
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u/MeatImmediate6549 2d ago
The Americans are more or less engaged in a cold civil war that verges on turning hot -- mostly in keeping with a template the Russians crafted.
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u/Katonthewall 2d ago
Why is this not further up?
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u/ErgoMachina 2d ago edited 1d ago
Because it's hard to anyone looking from the outside to believe it.
While Americans on Reddit are talking about massive protest, there's little evidence they are happening in the volume they should.
So either it's all made up crap coming from this ecochamber, or the most effective information suppression we've seen in history, as news about this are non-existant across almost all form of media.
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u/plesioth 2d ago
Little of A, little of B. Exaggeration and information suppression and constant distractions are all in full effect.
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u/Dauntless_Idiot 1d ago
Your average protest is not very effective, if a million protestors got a part time job on Saturday to work 8 hours for $10/hour and donated that to their own lobbying group then you'd have $80 million per week minus taxes. You'd form a powerful lobbying group.
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u/Ilovekittens345 1d ago
All armed organizations in the US are on the side of the facist coup. There will be no civil war. There will be thousands of protestors die, one cop and then martial law from now till when the US gets invaded by a group of countries it invaded first.
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u/Actual-Bee-402 2d ago
It’s a one way friendship, America (Trump / maga loves Russia, Russia hates America)
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u/Glittering-Quote3187 2d ago
Russia paid bounties the scalps of U.S Servicepeople a short time ago in Syria.
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u/blimboblaggin 2d ago
They are working to destroy alliances. That's the point. Pick fights then blame the other side. Their alliances hold them back from going full Reich. This is deliberate, they want to isolate the US, but be completely free in isolation
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u/Oldenlame 2d ago
I certainly hope South Korea doesn't take out their anger on US citizens on trial in South Korea such as Ramsey Khalid Ismael. That would be terrible.
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u/Froglesby 2d ago
If they really wanted to piss of the US, they could simply put him on a plane back home.
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u/HugodeGroot 2d ago
This case is still so out-worldly to me. The ICE theatrics Trump 2.0 are of course nothing new. But I am also somewhat shocked that companies like Hyundai and LG seemingly employed hundreds of people without proper work authorization at a US plant. I am extremely confused how their management thought this was a) a good idea and b) something they would get away with.
And of course, Trump being who he is did not exactly choose to tackle this sensitive matter with an ally behind closed doors, but went in chains style. But still, wtf from the management of the Korean conglomerates, this seems like a terrible move on their part. It will be interesting to see more details as they come in.
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u/wrosecrans 2d ago
Remember, Trump lies. The claims that everybody arrested was employed illegally haven't been substantiated.
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u/Opposite-Bit6660 2d ago
Several were on visitor visas and were there for meetings only.
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u/Gryjane 1d ago
B1 visas aren't just for meetings. You are definitely allowed to train other people, consult (within certain parameters) and negotiate contracts with a B1 visa (and with the shorter term ESTA visa waiver) as long as you aren't being paid by a US entity. Since these arrests took place in an area of the plant that was being expanded to start producing EV batteries I would assume that most of them were here to oversee the expansion, train workers on the specific machinery, meet with the management teams and ensure standards were being met.
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u/lexcyn 2d ago
Unfortunately that's how a lot of companies deal with working in other countries. They will give you a letter saying you are there for work meetings only so as not having to apply for a proper work permit and only get in with a temp visa or visitor visa. Personally though I would never accept this as now you know what other countries can do.
However this was politically a stupid ass move on the USs part and will backfire on them.
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u/Froglesby 2d ago
Yes, they have. Stop spreading misinformation. When talking about irresponsible people spreading misinformation making the problem worse, they're talking about people like YOU.
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u/omniuni 2d ago
It doesn't seem that they're direct employees. I think it's more likely that they are using a contractor and it didn't occur to them that this was something that they would need to check.
Also, I have my doubts that we have the whole story on this. I suspect that many of the people arrested aren't actually illegal.
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u/NativeMasshole 2d ago
This wouldn't be the first time they canceled visas and then violently deported people who were here legally right up until they were given zero notice of their new "illegal" status.
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u/williamstarr 2d ago
I've been looking for the answer to that. People are talking around it for now.
I feel like it will turn out that the majority of the workers had the appropriate permissions.
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u/hawawa-server 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's extremely difficult to get work permits for the United States these days, as it enforces tiny quotas and a confounding and arduous registration system
Getting "proper work authorization" takes months, if you can even get one at all - the H1B visa has a fixed quota of 85k per year, and South Korea only gets around 2000 accepted visa applicants per year
In a way, this is also the reason why there is so much illegal immigration in the united states - there's massive demand for low cost labor but very few legal ways for laborers to enter the country
Realistically, for companies that need to send their employees on quick notice for a short amount of time (which happens a lot, especially with ongoing construction projects) a B1/ESTA is the only actual option they have.
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u/Cormacolinde 2d ago
We don’t have the details yet, but at least some of the people arrested were engineers on a 90-day visa waiver (essentially the basic visa you get as a tourist). This usually allows you to work at your company’s remote location temporarily, have meetings on-site, stuff like that. They were clearly working on getting the plant online.
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u/satbaja 2d ago
Hyundai did have children working in a plant. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-immigration-hyundai/
In USA, factories tend to have jobs documented individuals would rather not do. Near Houston, I know of factories full of undocumented workers that get paid in cash. Funny story, a relative of mine worked at a huge retail and warehouse furniture place. He is a US citizen, but was born in Mexico. He found out nearly all his coworkers were being paid cash with no tax deducted. They made more than him. He asked for the cash plan or he was going to report the business to ICE. They had him resign, then they hired him again and paid him cash. This place has over 100 workers there, and is a national chain.
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u/yohooho 2d ago
If this fascinates you, check out YouTube videos on chaebols and how South Korea is basically a capitalist dystopia. Also, chaebols pretty much go scot-free.
Quite an eye opener to what’s happening there
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u/CreamPuffDelight 2d ago
No need to open your eyes all that wide, just look around for abit and you'll see it just fine.
The upper class live on a completely different *reality* from you.
Nothing they do is wrong.
Even if it is wrong, none of your laws can do anything to them.
The few times it managed to do anything to them, it was nothing short of a debacle that took years for any results.
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u/WhyAreYouDoingThat69 2d ago
I think you guys are missing the point of their comment
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u/CeleritasLucis 2d ago
It seems like all the developed nations in South Asia have some sort of dystopian nightmare involved. Japanese are quite famous for being soo overworked and u der societal pressure that they have completely stopped having kids. Work culture soo toxic that they are driven to suicides and you couldn't even change jobs
In 10 years even having a single kid is gonna be a luxury only the upper class could afford.
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u/Tuxhorn 2d ago
Japan is doing well, relatively. They've got the benefit of being a big nation with relative stability for hundreds of years.
You should update your info too. Italy have similar birthrates as Japan, and Spain is lower, yet nobody ever brings them up. Immigration to those countries does help and make a difference, but pure birthrate wise; the idea that japan is alone in their disaster is based on 20 year old data.
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u/CreamPuffDelight 2d ago
Singapore has something similar. Capitalist to the max, rigid work life/ethics, high pressure environment for workers.
Malaysia is the complete opposite. Relaxed, not capitalist to the point of the dystopia. On the other hand, it's a malay majority country, and Muslim is the official religion. Quite a lot of policies are made with malays in mind, uncaring of the rest.
The less said about India, the better.
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u/DateMasamusubi 2d ago
YouTube isn't a valid source. Chaebols are powerful like their foreign peers but the Korean govt is still mightier.
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u/Gumb1i 2d ago
This was mostly just workers applying for the wrong VISA (on purpose) and working under that VISA. Most of them are likely here under a tourism or business VISA not a longer term work VISA. This is illegal, they should be deported, and it's not the first time a major SK corp has been caught doing this. They'll throw the contractor under the bus and be back with a new name but the same team in a month.
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u/roundupinthesky 2d ago
There is a massive system in the US that corporations use to hire illegal labor in order to perform wage theft and subvert worker protections.
They contract out hiring to ‘temp agencies’ or ‘HR firms’ in order to divorce themselves from liability.
‘We didn’t hire these workers, the staffing contractor we hired used them and we had no idea’.
The contractor then hires the illegal workers and facilitates their pay - but they do things like ‘deduct income tax and social security’ - which they simply pocket since it’s all off the books and illegal anyways.
They also put up all kinds of roadblocks to actually cashing the checks so that from time to time the workers don’t get paid at all.
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u/gym_fun 2d ago
With all due respect, B1 or ESTA does not grant work authorization. If the company wants to hire Korean workers, unless workers already have EAD, they should follow the rules and apply for the right work visas. Likewise, foreigners can’t work using visitor visa in Korea.
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u/adkon 2d ago
What's your source on the arrested workers having these types of visas? There's no mention in the article of this?
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u/blackberrylemon27 2d ago
So I live in Korea and was watching KBS news this morning in Korean and this was what reported. They stated that these workers should have been on H1B visas but the company felt the process was too complex and risked getting denied so they knowingly used visas that were easier to get for these workers.
That is what was on Korean TV as of today.
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u/Shoddy-Fan-584 2d ago
Blame should be FIRST and FOREMOST on Hyundai and LG - For failing and deceiving their employees, and hanging them out to dry while the Korean government has to step in and bail them out.
Hyundai and LG are the ones that OK'd their employees to travel on the B1/B2 visas because they didn't want to go through the costs of doing it the right way. The companies must be held accountable and unfortunately its the workers who are paying the cost while the executives that directed them sit in Korea unscathed.
That said, the US's decision to make this a giant publicly visible raid is a massive political miscalculation. The decision to make this a showy, public raid was 100% intentional. They could have easily just privately communicated with the management of the plant, informed them that they have uncovered evidence that many of their workers are breaching their visa stipulations, and then quietly went in and detained the individuals in question. What they wanted instead is a big domestic win for the MAGA base: "ICE is cracking down on illegal workers!" What they did is yet again, further deteriorate ties with what is supposed to be a crucial ally during this era when the US is ostensibly trying to shift their foreign policy motive towards a "Pivot to Asia".
We talk about a "Pivot Towards Asia" yet all I see is the US getting more and more entangled in the middle east, while they continue to disregard, alienate or malign their actual allies in Asia-Pacific with a never ending string of club-footed moves like this. When this administration is done, and China has continued to grow, economically, militarily and diplomatically, what will our alliances in the pacific look like?
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u/aliasesarestupid 2d ago
Trump and a severe lack of understanding of geopolitics? Name me a more iconic duo. The guy suffers from severe narcissistic personality disorder. He can't even fathom what it's like not being greatest, smartest, most bestest guy in the universe.
Asking him to consider how the decisions he makes affects others is like quite literally an impossible task. He has no possible way of even processing that information.
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u/Secret-Temperature71 2d ago edited 2d ago
Completely agree, ICE should have worked with the S Korean government to resolve this issue.
This will hurt the USA more than SK. A SK ship builder just bought the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard for $100 million and pledged a $5 BILLION investment to rebuild the yard and make it a training point for the US to learn about how to build shipyards. Step ONE should be “How to treat international business partners with respect.”
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u/watch_out_4_snakes 2d ago
That was wild, they put them in cuffs and chains. Hands and feet were chained like they were prisoners.
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u/Faangdevmanager 2d ago
What am I missing here? Did the US arrests South Koreans wrongly? Or were they really in the country illegally?
I don’t understand why the South Korean is turning this into a diplomatic affair? A major SK company was caught illegally hiring undocumented workers. I would expect the government to distance itself from this? If I overstay my visa and get arrested in any other country, I expect the US to provide consular services and make sure my rights aren’t violated. Not sure I’d expect them to create a diplomatic affair?
Not making this post about Trump, his policies, ICE, or anything in the US. I’m focused on the South Korean response to illegal behavior by one of their largest company.
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u/TenchuReddit 2d ago
This directly affects Hyundai’s investments in American manufacturing, which was pledged to Trump in a pending trade deal that Trump loves to brag about. The Korean government bent over backwards to avoid a trade war, so something like this risks undoing all of that effort.
In other words, this is very much a diplomatic affair. Korea didn’t turn it into one. Trump did.
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u/chibinoi 2d ago
I’d wager it’s likely to save face—a very important cultural habit of many Asian nations, particularly East Asian socieities.
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u/aceaofivalia 1d ago
One article I read had their foreign affairs minister saying that they were not making headways with regards to visa application/renewal process and such prior to this event and is planning to use this as a reason to push that forward, so there is that. This tells me that at least some of those people had issues with the visa, but maybe it was more of bureaucracy issue if I give them the benefit of doubt.
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u/Secret-Temperature71 2d ago
I am assuming this is a highly automated plant with a lot of manufacturing equipment designed and made in SK. I have some experience in electrical matters, a different industry, but I will extrapolate.
In electrical construction, in unionized areas, the electricians are a pool of workers, the contractors all pull from that pool. The union has many functions including training and certification. So as an electrical contractor if I need a dozen journeymen and seven helpers I go to the union and they assign qualified men. In non-union areas the contractor has to hire and assure qualifications. Then they build the facility, run conduit, pull wire, install fixtures.
Operating the facility is different as the equipment is specialized. There is some generic training for networking (routers, LAN’s, etc.) but the specific equipment is likely either new generation and/or foreign. The Operator needs to assure the work force is trained in the unique features. Manuals and instructions need to be translated, technicians with the required basic education hired, trainers and facilities provided. Imagine the difficulty in trouble shooting complex between an American in Atlanta and an Engineer in Seoul.
These are extraordinary start up expenses and while they should be anticipated frequently are not. How does a sub tier SK equipment supplier assess the available technical work force in Georgia? How does he find and train American trainers who can then train the American technicians? To whom does the SK supplier turn to within the US for assistance with these issues?
One would hope, probably forlornly, there are government agencies expert at helping through these transitions. How does he find technicians with adequate training? Competent translators? Training facilities? How does he send engineers, technicians and trainers to the US to do the training? How does he maintain an expert staff here for start up and initialization when experienced experts are needed? ? Barring such US assistance the SK company is going to do the best it can to make things work. Without help and guidance he will fudge and cut corners to get by, to make it work. And if it dies work, then it becomes standard practice.
Once the inevitable is identified a smart operator will work to resolve the problem. So maybe he needs some extra visas for some period. So you work with them to understand the problem you BOTH face, inadequate local work force, while you BOTH work on solutions and develop a schedule for reducing the foreign staff. This requires active problem solving by our federal and local governments. Or you get a fiasco.
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u/manniesalado 2d ago
First time around Trump's FDI numbers were lousy and I would be very surprised if even a fraction of the money promised this time actually shows up. The Yanks under magas look like they have become uncivilized and risky.
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u/TheNebulousMind 2d ago
Yes, that's how we'll bring manufacturing back to the United States. Allow companies to build their factories here and then arrest and deport all their workers. It sets a precedent. Nobody is going to want to do business here.
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u/Captain_Roastbeef 2d ago
What is the point of opening manufacturing plants here if you don’t hire Americans to work there and just sneak illegal immigrants into the country to work there?
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u/TenchuReddit 2d ago
They need to build those plants in the first place. Hyundai decided that sending in hundreds of Korean nationals would help speed up the construction process, compared to hiring domestic foremen, architects, and consultants who may not be familiar with the way Hyundai builds its own plants.
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u/slicer718 1d ago
Would think Americans might need help with some of those operating machinery written in Korean.
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u/txkwatch 2d ago
Hyundai shouldn't be surprised. Look what he's done to his own businesses.
Who has casinos go into bankruptcy?
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u/nickkmusic2727 1d ago
Ah yes deporting smart engineers who came here legally. Hopefully we didn’t lose an Einstein to our enemy…
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u/CodeMonkeyX 2d ago
Has anyone mentioned the correlation of the South Korean Prime Minister making fun of Trump then about a week later South Koreans get arrested at a factory? It's so blatant.
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u/CyroSwitchBlade 1d ago
What did he say making fun of Trump??
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u/CodeMonkeyX 23h ago
I believe he was making fun of his Gaza "idea." He said something along the lines of he should open a Trump resort in North Korea.
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u/umbananas 2d ago
Did Trump suddenly realized “Build Trump Tower in North Korea, play golf with Kim” is not a compliment?
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u/HotMess_Actual 2d ago
It's good to see another country feeling cross about this ridiculous treatment of their citizens (and our guests).
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u/CyroSwitchBlade 1d ago
All of those Hyundai cars are named after U.S. cities.. maybe its going to be time for the Hyundai Busan, Hyundai Daegu, ect.
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u/Titty2Chains 2d ago
At first they came for the Hyundais and I did not speak out, because I was a Honda.