Seoul [Korea], September 12: A total of 316 South Korean citizens were released on Thursday, about a week after their arrest on the premises of car manufacturer Hyundai, according to news agency Yonhap.
South Korea's official news agency reported the citizens were picked up by bus from the detention centre in Folkston, Georgia, and were to be taken to Atlanta airport. A charter plane operated by Korean Air was waiting there to fly the individuals to South Korea. Yonhap reported this is formally a "voluntary departure" rather than a deportation.
The arrests followed a large-scale raid last week by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at a factory jointly operated by carmaker Hyundai and LG Energy Solution.
Around 475 foreign workers were detained, over 300 of them South Korean citizens. The US authorities accused them of either residing in the US illegally or working there without the appropriate permits.
The matter led to considerable tension between the two allies, Seoul and Washington. Just a few weeks earlier, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung had promised his US counterpart Donald Trump investments of $350 billion in the United States.
Source: Qatar Tribune
