​Quotes of the Day:

"...But the educated citizen knows how much more there is to know. He knows that "knowledge is power," more so today than ever before. He knows that only an educated and informed people will be a free people, that the ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all, and that if we can, as Jefferson put it, "enlighten the people generally ... tyranny and the oppressions of mind and body will vanish, like evil spirits at the dawn of day." And, therefore, the educated citizen has a special obligation to encourage the pursuit of learning, to promote exploration of the unknown, to preserve the freedom of inquiry, to support the advancement of research, and to assist at every level of government the improvement of education for all Americans, from grade school to graduate school..."

President John F. Kennedy, 1963 at Vanderbilt University

"The struggle for freedom is not about gaining power over others, but about creating a society of mutual respect and equality.

– Emma Goldman

"People who can't communicate think everything is an argument. People who lack accountability think everything is an attack."

– John Miller (also attributed to Shannon L. Alder)

1. NYT Article About the SEAL Team 6 Mission to North Korea (Background from the author)

2. China’s Grand Reception for Kim Jong Un: Strategic Reset or Warning Shot?

3. Hyundai Raid Rattles a Hot Spot of Growth in Georgia

4. Trump shows S Korea who's boss with Hyundai plant raid

5. What We Know About the Hyundai-LG Plant Immigration Raid in Georgia

6. The Deportation Economy Hits Georgia

7. China Shows Unity With Russia and North Korea, but Divisions Linger

8. South Korea Says Hyundai Plant Detainees Will Go Home Without Being Deported

9. Immigration Raid Exposes Tensions From Seoul to Washington to Rural Georgia

10. Kim Jong-un 'pocketing $2,000 a month wages of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine'

11. North Koreans get rare glimpse of Chinese military might in TV program on parade

12. North Korean military engineers already deployed to Kursk, governor confirms

13. Editorial: South Korea-U.S. must urgently prevent worker arrest recurrence

14. Park Ji-won: Kim Ju-ae not successor, son studying abroad

15. U.S. raid at Hyundai-LG site triggers turmoil among Korean firms, shakes confidence in American projects

16. N. Korea's Kim likely conditioned China visit on dropping denuclearization call: minister

1. NYT Article About the SEAL Team 6 Mission to North Korea (Background from the author)

NYT Article About the SEAL Team 6 Mission to North Korea

Sometimes, If you can't beat 'em...

https://matthewcole.substack.com/p/nyt-article-about-the-seal-team-6

Matthew Cole

Sep 05, 2025

∙ Paid

Today, I published a story with the New York Times about a previously secret mission to North Korea conducted by SEAL Team 6 in 2019.

(I am providing a gift link to the article here so that my readers can access it for free)

I want to briefly explain to my subscribers why the story appeared in the New York Times instead of Substack.

I learned about the mission to North Korea in 2023 from a trusted and vetted source. The circumstances of the disclosure—one of the most highly classified military missions in a generation—required that I do what is nearly impossible for me: sit on it. To protect my source, I needed to pretend I had never heard the story and wait months before I started making other calls.

Why?

Contacting other potential sources who knew about the mission—an extremely limited group of people—could expose the source who provided the tip. Perhaps because I have experienced the consequences of moving too aggressively on a story that deserves public disclosure, I erred on the side of discretion and patience.

I waited 8 months.

In mid-2024, I began making calls about the operation. Within a few weeks, I had enough confirmation to know that the story I'd first been told was accurate, or accurate enough to consider what to do with it.

By early 2025, I'd gotten far enough along in the reporting to know that SEAL Team 6 had teamed up with SDV-1 to enter North Korean waters to plant a listening device. I knew the mission went awry, that the SEALs killed at least one North Korean civilian and fled. Even for a reporter who has written a book about the secrets of SEAL Team 6, this was a remarkable scoop.

But I had two semi-related problems. First, this was potentially a massive international story—the U.S. military had violated the sovereignty of a nuclear-armed adversary with whom it had no diplomatic relations—and the risks surrounding disclosure were high.

Second, I didn't actually have the story yet. While I knew the mission occurred and that it failed, I really had no other information needed to publish. The original tip came as a way of explaining how the SEALs involved in the mission had avoided any accountability because of how secret the mission was. There had been multiple investigations into the operation, but because it was so classified, few knew the mission occurred, let alone that North Koreans had been killed. I had no firm date, location, or tangible details I could publish. Details such as: How did they get to North Korea? How many SEALs were on the mission? How many North Koreans were killed? Who were they?

I could land the story alone, but it might take another year, perhaps two. And while I had no doubts I could sell the story at that point, it seemed too urgent to wait.

And so I did what any sane reporter would do: I asked for help. I called a friend at the New York Times, a great colleague and peer who will remain unnamed, and asked if they wanted to work with me on the story. They said they couldn't, but that I should work with David Philipps. It was my great fortune that Philipps agreed.

Philipps is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who has covered the Navy SEALs and the U.S. military for the Times for over a decade. He agreed to make some calls and see if he could independently confirm the mission. I was unsurprised, but pleased, when he called me back a few days later to say he had. He brought the story, with me attached as an equal reporting partner to his editor, who agreed. We were off.

Philipps is a diligent, intelligent, and careful reporter with a disarming demeanor. He always treated me as an equal, and I can disclose here that he is an excellent human being. We worked together closely, and the story would not have been possible without his involvement.

A reporter can have a long career and never be involved in a scoop as significant as this one. I have been fortunate to have a few. From those previous stories, I learned that having editors, lawyers, and an institution with high professional integrity only makes journalism better.

The purpose of a story like this is public disclosure, not subscriptions. At its best, journalism is a values-based endeavor that serves the public and American democracy. These are trying times for the latter; in those times, more public information about how the government operates in secrecy should be part of the public's recourse, however modest.

2. China’s Grand Reception for Kim Jong Un: Strategic Reset or Warning Shot?

​Excerpts:

The appearance of “common interests” is particularly significant when compared to previous summit readouts between the two leaders. During Xi’s last visit to North Korea in June 2019, the Chinese readout emphasized “traditional friendship” and focused almost entirely on Korean Peninsula denuclearization. It made no mention of “common interests” because Beijing did not then consider this an issue.

The addition of this phrase in the 2025 readout suggests China seeks to redefine the relationship in more pragmatic, interest-based terms rather than relying solely on ideological affinity and historical ties. China’s emphasis on “common interests” signals perhaps a warning that Beijing expects Pyongyang to align its policies more closely with China’s strategic objectives, especially given North Korea’s growing ties with Russia or in advance of prospective future talks with the US. Judging from the North Korean readout, Pyongyang may not have received this message or simply chose to ignore it.

China’s Grand Reception for Kim Jong Un: Strategic Reset or Warning Shot?

https://www.38north.org/2025/09/chinas-grand-reception-for-kim-jong-un-strategic-reset-or-warning-shot/

• By: Feng Zhang
• September 5, 2025

(Source: Korean Central News Agency)

On September 3, China gave North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a high-profile reception at its military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. This marked the first time in 66 years that a North Korean leader had attended a Chinese military parade at Tiananmen Square. Beijing accorded Kim protocol rank just below Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who was also attending. Kim enjoyed both a private meal and one-on-one discussions with President Xi Jinping, in addition to a formal bilateral summit.

China clearly wants to strengthen ties with North Korea after multiple disruptions in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic brought bilateral interactions to a standstill. More significantly, the relationship suffered when North Korea signed a new alliance treaty with Russia in June 2024 and deployed troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine. China’s concern about losing leverage over North Korea as Russia’s influence grows is evident. The prominent reception for Kim Jong Un signals Beijing’s intent to reset bilateral relations and reassert its influence over Pyongyang.

Nevertheless, cracks in the relationship remain visible, even in the official readouts of the visit. The North Korean readout was brief and formulaic, containing only one sentence about the visit’s significance: “it further consolidates the political trust between the two parties and two countries, strengthens strategic coordination, and powerfully demonstrates that the friendly relations forged and tempered through the common struggle of the DPRK and China for the victory of the socialist cause will remain eternal and unbreakable despite all trials and challenges.” This boilerplate language fails to address the relationship’s substance given recent developments.

The Chinese readout was more substantive and pointed. It included the usual emphasis on “traditional friendship” between the countries and pledged to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Notably, however, it introduced a new reference to “common interests.” President Xi stated that “China and North Korea should strengthen strategic coordination in international and regional affairs, in order to safeguard their common interests.” According to the Chinese readout, Kim also pledged to “properly safeguard the common and fundamental interests of both sides” a commitment absent from the North Korean readout.

The appearance of “common interests” is particularly significant when compared to previous summit readouts between the two leaders. During Xi’s last visit to North Korea in June 2019, the Chinese readout emphasized “traditional friendship” and focused almost entirely on Korean Peninsula denuclearization. It made no mention of “common interests” because Beijing did not then consider this an issue.

The addition of this phrase in the 2025 readout suggests China seeks to redefine the relationship in more pragmatic, interest-based terms rather than relying solely on ideological affinity and historical ties. China’s emphasis on “common interests” signals perhaps a warning that Beijing expects Pyongyang to align its policies more closely with China’s strategic objectives, especially given North Korea’s growing ties with Russia or in advance of prospective future talks with the US. Judging from the North Korean readout, Pyongyang may not have received this message or simply chose to ignore it.

3. Hyundai Raid Rattles a Hot Spot of Growth in Georgia

​Good people are worried.

But perhaps we can see a contributing factor to the ICE raid in the excerpt below. Were they really undocumented workers or is that the perception? DId the investigation start several months ago?

​Excerpts:

The raid and its fallout shocked the auto industry, and South Korea. Nowhere is that shock more apparent than in a place like Pooler, where a new Korean community had taken root. Some said they felt betrayed by the raid, especially after Korean companies made such a massive investment in the U.S. Others said they believe that improperly documented workers have brought undue scrutiny upon those who are here legally.

“You can feel the tension,” said 51-year-old Hoseong Kim, an American citizen and local pastor, also known as Robin. Like many Korean immigrants, Kim took on an American name to “fit in better” with American culture. 

...

That effort to assimilate, Kim said, is common among Korean immigrants and part of the way they see themselves: proud of their culture and origins, and proud to be welcomed by Americans as hard workers who bring value to the country. The raids shattered that image, and left many feeling suddenly fearful and angry. Many spent the weekend worrying about their futures in the U.S., and arguing over who to blame.

“We’ve worked hard, built businesses, created jobs here,” read one message in a sprawling group chat of Koreans living in the area. “And instead of support, it feels like we’re being pushed out.” 

...

Some 100 Korean-owned facilities operate in Georgia, employing more than 17,000 people as of last year, Wilson wrote, noting that Korea ranked as Georgia’s third-largest total trade partner, with more than $17.5 billion in goods traded. “Korea is not just a friend, but a key pillar of Georgia’s global economic strategy,” he wrote.

But not everyone is convinced that the relationship has been so beneficial for the state. 

Barry Zeigler, the business manager of Local Union 188, which represents plumbers, pipe-fitters, welders and air-conditioning technicians, said he was furious after around 65 union members were let go from the battery plant several months ago. They had been hired to install mechanical piping by two separate subcontractors.

“We went out there and did a great job, no fatalities, no injuries, and then we just got replaced by the undocumented workers,” said Zeigler, who has been in the union for 27 years. “It was a kick in the knee.” 

Hyundai Raid Rattles a Hot Spot of Growth in Georgia

Koreans drawn to communities around the carmaker’s complex now wonder if they are welcome; some locals say the factory hasn’t lived up to promises

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/hyundai-raid-rattles-a-hot-spot-of-growth-in-georgia-d1fcd585

By Rachel Wolfe

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 | Photographs by Henry Taylor for WSJ

Updated Sept. 7, 2025 11:26 pm ET

Hannah and Robin Kim, center and right, during a Saturday walk in Pooler, Ga.

Quick Summary

• A Georgia town saw rapid growth with a new Hyundai plant.View more

POOLER, Ga.—When Gov. Brian Kemp signed a $5.5 billion manufacturing deal with Hyundai Motor Group, Georgia celebrated it as the largest economic development project in state history. Georgia gave the carmaker $2 billion in tax breaks, and in return Hyundai’s new electric-vehicle megafactory would give the Savannah region an economic boost. 

In the suburb of Pooler, that promise seemed to already be coming true. The population shot up 22% between just 2020 and 2024, according to census estimates, to around 31,000. Demographic data lags behind, but community leaders estimate half of that growth has come from Koreans. 

Suddenly, the single Korean restaurant in town had to compete with around half a dozen others. The newly opened Costco, locals said, started carrying Kimchi, dried seaweed and mandu dumplings. New homes sprung up by the dozens, and Korean families moved into planned neighborhoods with streets named Blue Moon Crossing and Harvest Hill.

Many of the newcomers worked at the factory, a massive site that was still expanding with new construction in rural Ellabell, about 20 minutes away. On Thursday, federal agents raided the complex, arresting nearly 500 people for alleged immigration violations, most of them Korean. On Sunday, the Korean government said it had reached a deal with the U.S. to bring its people home.

The raid and its fallout shocked the auto industry, and South Korea. Nowhere is that shock more apparent than in a place like Pooler, where a new Korean community had taken root. Some said they felt betrayed by the raid, especially after Korean companies made such a massive investment in the U.S. Others said they believe that improperly documented workers have brought undue scrutiny upon those who are here legally.

“You can feel the tension,” said 51-year-old Hoseong Kim, an American citizen and local pastor, also known as Robin. Like many Korean immigrants, Kim took on an American name to “fit in better” with American culture. 

Hannah and Robin Kim moved to Pooler because they thought they had a lot to offer to new immigrants.

That effort to assimilate, Kim said, is common among Korean immigrants and part of the way they see themselves: proud of their culture and origins, and proud to be welcomed by Americans as hard workers who bring value to the country. The raids shattered that image, and left many feeling suddenly fearful and angry. Many spent the weekend worrying about their futures in the U.S., and arguing over who to blame.

“We’ve worked hard, built businesses, created jobs here,” read one message in a sprawling group chat of Koreans living in the area. “And instead of support, it feels like we’re being pushed out.” 

Kim’s phone lighted up every few seconds with messages from the roughly 1,400-person group chat for Savannah-area Koreans on KakaoTalk, Korea’s WhatsApp equivalent. His wife, who chose the name Hannah when she was naturalized, is in another chat group, about 1,500 Koreans strong. (Neither of them is sure why there are two, seemingly identical chats.) 

Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, recently hailed Georgia’s decadeslong partnership with Korea in an opinion column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Protesters gathered outside Hyundai’s plant in Georgia on Saturday.

Some 100 Korean-owned facilities operate in Georgia, employing more than 17,000 people as of last year, Wilson wrote, noting that Korea ranked as Georgia’s third-largest total trade partner, with more than $17.5 billion in goods traded. “Korea is not just a friend, but a key pillar of Georgia’s global economic strategy,” he wrote.

But not everyone is convinced that the relationship has been so beneficial for the state. 

Barry Zeigler, the business manager of Local Union 188, which represents plumbers, pipe-fitters, welders and air-conditioning technicians, said he was furious after around 65 union members were let go from the battery plant several months ago. They had been hired to install mechanical piping by two separate subcontractors.

“We went out there and did a great job, no fatalities, no injuries, and then we just got replaced by the undocumented workers,” said Zeigler, who has been in the union for 27 years. “It was a kick in the knee.” 

Tori Branum, who is running in the May Republican primary for one of Georgia’s U.S. congressional seats, said she alerted the Department of Homeland Security to undocumented workers at the site. It couldn’t be determined what role that might have played in the raid. DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

She thinks the plant isn’t as much of an economic boon for Georgia as the governor has claimed, and that trained, unionized U.S. workers have been passed over in favor of cheaper, undocumented labor. “We gave tax cuts for jobs for Georgians that never happened,” said Branum.

The site includes Hyundai’s EV factory, and a battery factory that is a joint venture between the South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution. The automaker said Friday it is assigning an executive to oversee the entire site, and that it aims to ensure that all contractors and subcontractors follow the law.  

The raid on the Hyundai plant and its fallout shocked the auto industry. Photo: Anna Ottum for WSJ

A spokesperson for the governor said state law enforcement coordinated with federal officials “to provide all necessary support for this operation.”

Outside Costco, Kim Sun-jin and Sohn Woon-yong said they were saddened by the raid. The couple arrived from Korea two years ago for Sohn to work as an engineer at the Hyundai plant. 

“We have a need for Korean people’s labor, and the U.S. doesn’t make it easy,” Sohn said through the translation of his wife. 

The 57-year-old said that many of Hyundai’s machines require Koreans to program them, and that work visas can take months to come through. Meanwhile, they are rushing to get the plant finished in time. “We want a strong relationship between Korea and the U.S.,” he said.  

Kim Sun-jin and Sohn Woon-yong outside of the Costco in Pooler.

Jimmy Choi, a Korean-American software engineer, had traveled from Atlanta to spend a few weeks working on an IT project for Hyundai. But the 45-year-old was waiting Saturday to see if work would resume.

“Working hard every day and finishing everything in time, that is the Korean culture and mindset, and the U.S. benefits,” said Choi. Still, he said, it is a complicated situation. “I can see both sides,” he said.

Min Cho, a U.S. permanent resident who came to America for boarding school when he was 13, thinks that the arrests could make assimilation harder. The 29-year-old was already worried that he wouldn’t be allowed back in the U.S. after going home to visit his family.

“I did it the right way, spending the money and time,” said Cho, who works for a logistics company unaffiliated with the plant. “And I know there are a lot of people like me.”

ICE Officials Arrest 475 in Georgia After Raiding a Hyundai Plant

Play video: ICE Officials Arrest 475 in Georgia After Raiding a Hyundai Plant

A Homeland Security official said hundreds were arrested at Hyundai’s Georgia battery plant in the ‘largest single site enforcement operation’ in the history of the agency. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg News

For the pastor and his wife, the raid couldn’t have come at a worse time. Pooler is their American dream, and they are betting big on it. Both Robin and Hannah Kim came to the U.S. as young adults, Robin for divinity school, and Hannah as a teenager with her family. Hannah became a citizen in 1996, and Robin in 2021. 

The couple moved to Pooler from an army base 45 minutes away, where Robin was stationed as a Christian chaplain. They landed on Pooler because they thought they had a lot to offer to new immigrants, including the free English classes they have been teaching twice a week.

Just last month, the couple bought their first home. The house, with its white columns, tidy green front lawn, white quartzite countertops and engineered wood floors, is the picture of middle-class suburban America. Robin is starting a Korean-American bilingual church.

More Korean restaurants have sprung up in Pooler as the population grew.

“We were doing great until that incident happened,” he said. “Now, there’s a risk that people will make assumptions or generalize unfairly.” His friends have already told him they have felt, for the first time, like they are being watched or judged, “even if they’re here legally and have nothing to do with the situation.”

Those who come over for roughly two to five-year contracts, Hannah said, “are so eager to learn English and they are so happy that their kids are having opportunities to attend American school.” But the English class Hannah, a 58-year-old mental health counselor, taught on Friday was smaller than normal.  

“A lot of people,” her husband said, “are trying to keep a low profile right now.” 

Write to Rachel Wolfe at rachel.wolfe@wsj.com

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the September 8, 2025, print edition as 'Hyundai Raid Rattles a Hot Spot of Growth'.

4. Trump shows S Korea who's boss with Hyundai plant raid

​Excerpts:

But Kim Dong-suk, the president of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, pointed out that “The Donald Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is the most critical campaign to secure victory in next year’s midterm elections. Korean companies investing in the US should take note and maintain composure until the elections are over.”

Not surprisingly, Hyundai Motor issued a statement reading:

“Hyundai is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market where we operate. This includes employment verification requirements and immigration laws. We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves. This includes thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors. Hyundai has zero tolerance for those who don’t follow the law.”

It is unfortunate that they didn’t live up to this policy before the raid, but there were extenuating circumstances. While pressing foreign companies to step up their investments in US manufacturing, the Trump administration has simultaneously made it more difficult for them to obtain work visas for employees dispatched to facilitate operations on site.

For this reason, most of the South Koreans detained in Georgia entered the US on the 90-day Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which can be easily obtained over the internet, or on B-1 visas. Both allow business trips, but neither permit manual labor, which puts factory engineers at risk. Other foreign companies, many of them Korean, face the same difficulty.

The Hyundai-LG factory, officially called HL-GA Battery Company, was originally scheduled to start production in 2026, but depending on the US government’s willingness to compromise, that may now be unrealistic.

And since the batteries will be used in Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs produced at the adjacent Hyundai Motor factory, vehicle production may also be delayed. Thousands of anticipated jobs and returns on billions of dollars of investment are likely to be affected.

The practical problems can be solved with time, but the deliberate humiliation of South Korean workers being treated like criminals on video and in photographs shown worldwide is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.

Trump shows S Korea who's boss with Hyundai plant raid - Asia Times

asiatimes.com · Scott Foster · September 7, 2025

Agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 475 employees of the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution joint venture in a raid on the company’s EV battery manufacturing plant near Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday, September 4. Personnel from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) were also involved.

A video released by ICE shows a helicopter flying overhead, an armored vehicle, a convoy of SUVs, agents in military uniforms with sidearms and automatic weapons, and workers in ankle chains and handcuffs lined up, patted down and herded onto buses.

More than 300 of those detained were from South Korea, where the incident received wide publicity and immediately became a top concern of the government. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung told his officials that “all-out necessary measures should be done to support Korean nationals in this matter and to resolve it as fast as possible.”

South Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun said, “If necessary, we will visit Washington directly to discuss the matter with the administration,” while the Korean press reported on the poor sanitary conditions at the processing center to which the detainees were sent.

Steven Schrank, chief special agent of HIS in Atlanta, told the news media that “This operation underscores our commitment to protecting jobs for Georgians and Americans, ensuring a level playing field for businesses that comply with the law, safeguarding the integrity of our economy, and protecting workers from exploitation,” adding that “There was a network of subcontractors and subcontractors for the subcontractors there, so the employees worked for a variety of different companies.”

According to Schrank, it was the “largest single-site enforcement operation” conducted to date, part of “a multi-month criminal investigation where we have developed evidence, conducted interviews, gathered documents and presented that evidence to the court in order to obtain judicial search warrants.”

Most of the non-Korean detainees appear to be construction workers from Latin America. All work at the site was halted.

Speaking at the White House, President Trump said “I would say that they were illegal aliens, and ICE was just doing its job.” He also said, “I just heard about that a little while before the news conference.”

That implies that he didn’t know that a massive raid on a flagship South Korean investment was being planned when he met with South Korean President Lee at the White House on August 25.

Believe that if you like, it is impossible to distinguish between duplicity and ignorance in this case, with ignorance of what ICE is doing perhaps being the more alarming possibility.

But some South Koreans are talking about a conspiracy. MBN News, a South Korean TV program sponsored by the Maeil Business Newspaper, declared that “In light of Trump’s statement, growing suspicions arise about the potential ulterior motives behind this recent crackdown.”

“First off,” continues MBN, “there’s speculation that this factory was touted as an achievement of former President Biden when he announced its establishment during his visit to South Korea in May 2022, suggesting a political motive.”

Furthermore, “it’s clearly showing that if American workers are prioritized, even facilities of allied countries could be targeted… this particular raid has put South Korean companies that operated locally on high alert.”

MBN also said that “Despite pouring in billions of dollars, we’re facing intense scrutiny, making us feel blindsided.”

But Kim Dong-suk, the president of the Korean American Grassroots Conference, pointed out that “The Donald Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is the most critical campaign to secure victory in next year’s midterm elections. Korean companies investing in the US should take note and maintain composure until the elections are over.”

Not surprisingly, Hyundai Motor issued a statement reading:

“Hyundai is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations in every market where we operate. This includes employment verification requirements and immigration laws. We are reviewing our processes to ensure that all parties working on our projects maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves. This includes thorough vetting of employment practices by contractors and subcontractors. Hyundai has zero tolerance for those who don’t follow the law.”

It is unfortunate that they didn’t live up to this policy before the raid, but there were extenuating circumstances. While pressing foreign companies to step up their investments in US manufacturing, the Trump administration has simultaneously made it more difficult for them to obtain work visas for employees dispatched to facilitate operations on site.

For this reason, most of the South Koreans detained in Georgia entered the US on the 90-day Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which can be easily obtained over the internet, or on B-1 visas. Both allow business trips, but neither permit manual labor, which puts factory engineers at risk. Other foreign companies, many of them Korean, face the same difficulty.

The Hyundai-LG factory, officially called HL-GA Battery Company, was originally scheduled to start production in 2026, but depending on the US government’s willingness to compromise, that may now be unrealistic.

And since the batteries will be used in Hyundai, Kia and Genesis EVs produced at the adjacent Hyundai Motor factory, vehicle production may also be delayed. Thousands of anticipated jobs and returns on billions of dollars of investment are likely to be affected.

The practical problems can be solved with time, but the deliberate humiliation of South Korean workers being treated like criminals on video and in photographs shown worldwide is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.

Follow this writer on X: @ScottFo83517667

​\

asiatimes.com · Scott Foster · September 7, 2025

5. What We Know About the Hyundai-LG Plant Immigration Raid in Georgia

​In my opinion this is the most insightful comment among all the news reporting I have seen about this incident.

George Hutchinson is a long time Korea expert. I hope both the ROK and US governments will heed his words here:

Like any breaking story, more facts will surface — but initial reports suggest the raid stemmed from misuse of visas to shield unauthorized employment. Enforcement after years of lax oversight was bound to look heavy-handed, and in the short term it may chill foreign investment. Yet if Washington and Seoul manage this well, the long-term result could be a course correction: better visa alignment, cleaner work authorizations, and ultimately a more stable foundation for FDI.

What We Know About the Hyundai-LG Plant Immigration Raid in Georgia

Several hundred workers, most of them South Korean nationals, were detained at the construction site of a sprawling electric vehicle battery plant on Thursday.

Listen to this article · 6:57 min Learn more

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Heavy machinery at a standstill at the site of an electric vehicle battery plant co-owned by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, in Ellabell, Ga., on Friday.Credit...Russ Bynum/Associated Press

By Chris Hippensteel

Sept. 7, 2025

Updated 3:22 p.m. ET

Immigration officials arrested nearly 500 workers, most of them South Korean citizens, at the construction site of an electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia on Thursday, as the Trump administration continues its far-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration.

The raid, which U.S. officials have called the largest-ever Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single location, stirred tensions with the South Korean government, a valued trade partner of the United States. It also revealed competing interests within the Trump administration between the president’s push to expand manufacturing in the United States and his aggressive efforts to crack down on immigration. The plant at the center of the operation was co-owned by the South Korean carmaker Hyundai.

U.S. immigration authorities said the detained employees — many of them hired by subcontractors to help finish the plant’s construction — were working or living in the United States illegally.

On Sunday, government officials with South Korea said they had reached an agreement with the United States to free the Korean workers and fly them back to their home country.

Here’s what we know about the raid and its fallout:

Where did it happen?

The raid targeted an electric vehicle battery plant still under construction in Ellabell, Ga., near Savannah. The plant is owned by two companies: Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, both titans in South Korean industry.

Immigration officials descended on the plant on Thursday, arresting hundreds who were allegedly living or working in the United States illegally. The operation was the product of a monthslong investigation, officials said.

As of Thursday night, most of the detained workers were being held at the Folkston detention facility in southern Georgia.

The unfinished battery plant represented the kind of strategic investment the United States has welcomed from South Korea in recent years — one that promised to create manufacturing jobs and build up a growing industry.

Georgia has eagerly sought investment by South Korean businesses, with Gov. Brian Kemp visiting the country twice since taking office. Korean companies have invested in plants making batteries, semiconductor materials and solar panels, as well as a large-scale bakery and food distribution center. But the state has also enthusiastically embraced the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard have both worked closely with federal immigration enforcement agents, and the State Patrol was involved in Thursday’s raid.

“In Georgia, we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “All companies operating within the state must follow the laws of Georgia and our nation.”

Immigration Raid Exposes Tensions From Seoul to Washington to Rural Georgia

The raid at a Georgia plant being built with heavy investment from South Korea reveals strain as a rush to expand manufacturing in the United States clashes with an immigration crackdown.

Sept. 6, 2025

Who was arrested?

The raid swept up 475 people, most of them South Korean citizens, agents said.

No Hyundai employees were arrested, the carmaker said. LG Energy Solution, the battery manufacturer, said 47 of its employees were detained.

A majority of the arrested South Korean workers were not direct employees of Hyundai or LG but were subcontractors, according to industry officials familiar with the project. The LG employees arrested were helping oversee the factory’s construction, and had arrived in the United States with visas or under a visa waiver program, the officials said.

Steven Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, said during a news conference that some U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were also detained in the raid and would be released.

The investigation has not yet yielded criminal charges.

How did South Korea respond?

Before the agreement on Sunday to release the workers, South Korea expressed alarm at Thursday’s raid, with top government officials assembling for an emergency meeting. A spokesman for the country’s Foreign Ministry told reporters at a news conference on Friday that South Korean embassy and consular officials based in Atlanta and Washington were dispatched to the plant.

“The economic activities of our investment companies and the rights and interests of our citizens must not be unjustly violated during U.S. law enforcement proceedings,” the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Editorials published in major South Korean newspapers criticized the raid, which came at a fraught time in U.S.-South Korean relations. The Trump administration has sought greater investments from the longtime ally while simultaneously imposing tariffs and visa restrictions on the country that have made those ventures more costly for South Korean companies.

In late July, both nations agreed to a deal that would levy 15 percent tariffs on most South Korean exports to the United States, down from a rate of 25 percent that Mr. Trump had threatened months earlier. But officials from the two countries are still hammering out the minutiae of that agreement.

Just last month, President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea traveled to Washington for a meeting with Mr. Trump. Some observers feared it could prove contentious, but it ultimately reaffirmed the two nations’ longstanding alliance.

South Korean companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States in recent years, drawn in part by policies to incentivize semiconductor and electric vehicle manufacturing. And Mr. Trump has sought even greater investment during tariff negotiations, with the White House securing $350 billion from South Korea as part of the preliminary tariff deal announced in July. Mr. Lee promised an additional $150 billion investment during his visit to the White House.

Still, when Mr. Trump was asked on Friday whether he was concerned about his immigration agenda clashing with his economic goals, he said that the immigration authorities were just doing their jobs.

“They came through illegally,” Mr. Trump said of the detained workers. “They came into our country. So we have to do our job.”

What have the companies involved said?

Both Hyundai and LG Energy Solution declined to comment on the findings of the Homeland Security investigation. But officials from both companies said they were prioritizing the safety of their workers and announced their own inquiries, including into the practices of their subcontractors.

On Saturday, LG said it had restricted its employees’ travel to the United States and advised staff already in the country on business trips to stay inside their accommodations or return to South Korea.

John Yoon, Jenny Gross, Aimee Ortiz, Ashley Ahn, Choe Sang-Hun, Rick Rojas, Lydia DePillis, Jim Lynn, Farah Stockman and Sean Keenan contributed reporting.

Chris Hippensteel is a reporter covering breaking news and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.

6. The Deportation Economy Hits Georgia

The Deportation Economy Hits Georgia

A sweeping raid shows every business is a potential ICE target.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-deportation-economy-hits-georgia-workers-jobs-businesses-ice-raid-cf94a34c

By The Editorial Board

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Sept. 7, 2025 4:33 pm ET

An immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG vehicle assembly plant in Ellabell, Ga., Sept. 4 Photo: epa/shutterstock/Shutterstock

The sweeping ICE operation in Georgia Thursday that rounded up some 475 illegal workers at a showcase development project is intended as a warning to employers nationwide. It also illustrates the America First contradiction of demanding foreign investment in the U.S. while shrinking the available workforce.

The raid targeted an electric battery manufacturing plant under construction to serve the U.S. market. The plant is a project of Hyundai, which makes electric vehicles at a plant nearby, and LG Energy Solution, a U.S. branch of another South Korean giant.

Most of the arrested were Korean nationals, while some were Mexican. A Homeland Security spokesman told the press the migrants either crossed the border illegally, overstayed their visas, or arrived on visas that didn’t allow them to work.

That last point is important because it suggests some of the Koreans may have been here temporarily to supervise construction or to train Americans. Quality control is crucial to a successful manufacturing operation, and companies often bring in experienced employers from the home country to ensure it.

Both Korean companies said they follow immigration law and are cooperating with ICE. But some of the illegal migrants may have worked for contractors helping to build the battery plant. The construction industry can’t find enough American workers these days, so migrants with fake documentation often fill the gap. The eternity it takes to build anything in the U.S. would be worse without these workers.

Americans want the law enforced, but raiding legal workplaces isn’t going after criminal gangs or murderers. The Georgia raid shows the Trump Administration’s priority is deporting every illegal migrant no matter how long they have worked here. This makes every employer a potential target of an ICE raid if the agency suspects foreigners are working there.

This is already having a notable impact on the U.S. labor market, as recent monthly jobs reports suggest. It’s hard to know how much the foreign-born workforce is shrinking, and that will be clearer as seasonally adjusted data arrive. But If President Trump wants a smaller U.S. population, he is going to get a weaker labor market and economy for Americans.

How about asking Congress to create more legal ways to enter and work in the U.S.?

7. China Shows Unity With Russia and North Korea, but Divisions Linger

​And hopefully we will be able to exploit those divisions because the CRInK is built on fear, weakness, desperation, and envy.

China Shows Unity With Russia and North Korea, but Divisions Linger

Xi’s embrace of Putin and Kim sent a powerful message, but those relationships remain, for now, far short of a military or political alliance

https://www.wsj.com/world/china-shows-unity-with-russia-and-north-korea-but-divisions-linger-d37be3a2

By Yaroslav Trofimov

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Sept. 7, 2025 9:00 pm ET

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un applauded a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Rao Aimin/Xinhua/AP

BEIJING—The pageantry of China’s Xi Jinping, flanked by leaders of fellow nuclear powers Russia and North Korea as intercontinental ballistic missiles rolled through flag-waving crowds on Tiananmen Square, marked a new phase in the redrawing of the international order.

No longer circumspect about supporting his two rogue neighbors, Xi flaunted Beijing’s growing links with Moscow and Pyongyang—both of them subjected to Western sanctions, both of them engaged in a bloody war against Ukraine and both of them potentially useful to China in a possible conflict with the U.S.

Despite becoming tighter, those relationships remain—for now at least—far short of an actual military or political alliance that could impose its will on the Eurasian landmass, the world’s wealthiest and most populous region.

“China is very cautious about working with these two countries. Unlike what is depicted in the West as them being allies, China is not in the same camp. Its view of warfare and security issues is very different from theirs,” said Tang Xiaoyang, chair of the department of international relations at Tsinghua University, pointing out that Beijing hasn’t fought a war for more than four decades. “What China wants is stability on its borders.”

The gap between Beijing’s aspirations and those of its junior partners, however, is clearly narrowing, Western diplomats and China watchers say. How fast and to what extent those contradictions could be bridged will determine the shape of the international system that is emerging after President Trump upended Washington’s network of alliances in Asia and Europe.

“China is becoming less discreet about being seen as part of the so-called axis of upheaval. Prompted by intensifying China-U.S. competition, China wants to show that, contrary to America’s alienation of allies, it is better capable of uniting friends around itself,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow with the Carnegie China think tank. “China sees an opportunity to assert its own leadership when the U.S. is undermining its international credibility.”

Wednesday’s parade in Beijing, which showcased China’s expanding military might and its increasing confidence in being able to win a conventional war against the U.S., followed a regional summit in the city of Tianjin that was also attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Xi used that summit to propose a vague but ambitious plan for a new “global governance initiative” that would create a more “just and equitable” international order—an order that is no longer dominated by the U.S.

The solidifying view among many in Beijing is that the current disarray in Washington and the rifts among the world’s leading democracies have handed China a unique chance—making it less necessary for Beijing to worry about the diplomatic fallout of getting too close to pariahs such as Russia and North Korea.

“China and Russia have a very strong shared understanding of how the new international order should work. We think that the American hegemony is ending—that’s an objective reality, it’s happening whether you recognize it or not,” said Wang Dong, a professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University in Beijing. “Both sides—Russia and China—see their relationship as one of strategic importance, and not only because of an increase in animosity coming from Washington.”

A Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in December. Chinese officials stress that Beijing doesn’t recognize Russian claims on Ukrainian territory. Photo: Serhii Korovayny for WSJ

Clear limits to that bond remain, added Xinbo Wu, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. “Neither Russia nor China want to be involved in a major conflict where the other one is involved. If we had a major conflict with the U.S. over the Taiwan issue, I don’t think Russia will come to our assistance,” he said. “We’re good friends, good partners, but that’s it. We will never become allies.”

Chinese officials stress that Beijing isn’t sending actual weapons to Russia, doesn’t recognize Russian claims on Ukrainian territory and doesn’t approve of North Korean participation in the conflict.

Yet, the images of Xi in his Mao-style tunic, leaning toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un or Russian President Vladimir Putin with explanations as some of the world’s deadliest weapons rolled by, undermine those assurances.

“The presence of Kim sent a message that China really stands by Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine. It means that the fact of Kim sending troops to fight Ukraine did not cause China any serious discomfort,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “Inviting Kim was like a middle finger to the democratic West, saying that what you define as unacceptable is not something that we need to give a damn about.”

Xi Jinping, at right, with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tianjin, China. Photo: ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/KREMLIN/EPA/Shutterstock

China’s military is learning from the Russian experience against Western weapons systems in Ukraine, and some Western officials say that China has given tacit approval for North Korean participation in the war so that Pyongyang could modernize and upgrade its own arsenal—a potential boon to Beijing in case of a multifront war against the West. 

While China’s economic ties with North Korea are negligible, Russia and China had a bilateral trade of $245 billion last year, a volume that shrank by 8% during the first seven months of this year after several years of rapid growth. Virtually the entirety of Russian exports is made up of oil, gas and raw materials, while China provides Russia with its industrial output—including indispensable components for the Russian military industries.

“Being the two biggest powers of Eurasia, we cannot ignore current challenges and threats, be it on the scale of our common continent, or of the entire world,” Putin said in an interview with China’s Xinhua state news agency ahead of his visit to China. China said it was abolishing visa requirements for Russian citizens during Putin’s visit, a liberalization already in force for most European and many Asian nations, aiming to bolster trade and tourism. Putin said Russia will reciprocate.

In Beijing’s Ritan shopping center, once buzzing with Russian shoppers, halls are deserted nowadays. “We used to have a lot of business before the war, but now the Russians stopped coming because they don’t have any money, and when they do, they have a hard time taking it out because of the sanctions,” said Zhang Dun, who sells leather jackets and coats. A store selling Chinese tea, retail and wholesale, saw its business halve since the start of the war in Ukraine, echoed attendant Zhong Lili: “How can the Russians be coming here, visiting and spending money, if there is war in their country?”

In another Beijing mall, an empty store stocked Russian food—from salt to chocolates—for Chinese clients. A poster showed Putin eating ice cream atop a freezer with brands such as Stars of the Kremlin. “Most of the customers come here to ask for Putin’s favorite ice-cream flavor,” said attendant Li Na. “But there aren’t many now.”

A Russian promotional event at a Beijing shopping mall. Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Beijing’s bond with Moscow isn’t cost-free: China’s relationship with most European nations, a much more important source of technology and trade, has suffered as a result of Beijing propping up the Russian war effort. “It’s very unfortunate that China-Europe relations are being kept as a hostage of this war,” said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University. “This is a price that China has paid for the war, which is not wanted by China and not supported by China.”

While debate on most political issues isn’t permitted in the tightly controlled Chinese society, a variety of views remains tolerated on Russia and the war in Ukraine, with some prominent scholars publicly voicing support for Kyiv’s resistance.

One of China’s leading strategists, Shi Yinhong, a distinguished professor at Renmin University, said that both Russia and North Korea, because of their adventurous behavior on the world stage, are creating risks for Beijing, especially as China faces economic headwinds.

“One major liability now comes from the guy who is still waging his war in Europe, and a second liability comes from the guy who has for many years escalated his development of nuclear missiles, against all U.N. Security Council resolutions, and now also sent massive troops to Europe to help Russia fight that war,” Shi said.

Xi, center, has flaunted Beijing’s growing links with Moscow and Pyongyang. Photo: Sergei Bobylev/Zuma Press

China’s leadership believes that it would be against Beijing’s interest for Putin to lose the war in Ukraine, a belief that Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently expressed to his European interlocutors. But it isn’t clear at all that China would find it beneficial for Russia to win, achieving Putin’s war aims of turning Ukraine into a vassal state and possibly asserting a European sphere of influence beyond Ukraine.

“If Russia were to win, it would become more troublesome to China than now, when it is at war. It would have much less dependence on China’s economy and, if the Republican Party remains in the White House after Trump, Russia would have a bigger chance for a rapprochement with Washington, and China would worry about that,” Shi said.

Trump’s current attempts to split Russia away from China don’t elicit much angst in Beijing because of calculations that Putin wouldn’t put much faith into promises by a White House that is so erratic and unpredictable—a view shared by many Russia analysts.

Much of Xi’s foreign policy over the past decade has been guided by a plan for “national rejuvenation” that would overcome the legacy of the “century of humiliation,” when China was torn apart by predatory colonial powers. Reclaiming the Chinese state’s control over Taiwan is a central part of that idea. Yet, the one remaining major legacy of past colonialism is the annexation of large parts of China by Russia, areas that make up the sparsely populated Russian Far East region.

That history still colors Chinese perceptions of the relationship with Moscow. “Russia took the largest piece of land from China, during the Qing dynasty. In modern history, during the era of humiliation, China suffered mostly from two countries—one is Russia and the other is Japan. People still have vivid memories of the past, and it’s very difficult to forget,” said Wu of Fudan University.

Yet the message from China’s leadership isn’t to dwell on that history, at least not now. “We know what happened in the past, but we want to focus on the future,” said Victor Gao, vice president of the Center for China and Globalization think tank in Beijing. “The whole country is very much geared toward Russia-China cooperation.”

Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com

8. South Korea Says Hyundai Plant Detainees Will Go Home Without Being Deported

Excerpts:

President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. had a “great relationship” with South Korea, responding to a question about whether the raid would strain relations.

In a Truth Social post, the president said he welcomed foreign investment. “We encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so,” Trump said.   

South Korea has pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars in U.S. manufacturing, partly in return for reduced tariff rates.

South Korea Says Hyundai Plant Detainees Will Go Home Without Being Deported

After Georgia immigration raid, Seoul hopes to get hundreds of workers onto a chartered plane Wednesday

https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/south-korea-says-hyundai-plant-detainees-will-go-home-without-being-deported-09a10b56

By Dasl Yoon

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Sept. 8, 2025 4:51 am ET

Hyundai’s Metaplant manufacturing facility in Georgia. Photo: Mike Stewart/Associated Press

Quick Summary

• South Korea expects around 300 citizens detained in Georgia to return home on Wednesday.View more

Hundreds of South Korean citizens detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor plant in Georgia are expected to return home on a voluntary basis and avoid deportation, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.

South Korea hopes to get its roughly 300 detained citizens on a chartered plane back to the country on Wednesday, a Korean diplomat in Washington said. South Korea’s foreign minister was set to depart for the U.S. Monday to secure the detainees’ release, the ministry said.

On Sunday, the South Korean president’s office said the U.S. and South Korea have reached a deal for the release of those detained in the raid last Thursday. 

South Korean officials have been negotiating for the U.S. to allow the Korean detainees to leave voluntarily rather than be deported. Deportation could trigger a lengthy re-entry ban.

South Korean consular officials have met with around 250 detained workers and they didn’t report any unfair treatment or human-rights violations, a Foreign Ministry official said.

President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. had a “great relationship” with South Korea, responding to a question about whether the raid would strain relations.

In a Truth Social post, the president said he welcomed foreign investment. “We encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so,” Trump said.   

South Korea has pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars in U.S. manufacturing, partly in return for reduced tariff rates.

Last week’s raid at the EV battery factory under construction—a joint venture between Hyundai and fellow South Korean firm LG Energy Solution—was the largest single-site immigration raid carried out by U.S. law enforcement, U.S. officials said. Some 475 people were arrested. 

The South Korean nationals working in Georgia largely held visas suitable for training purposes, such as the B-1 visa, as many were working as instructors, a Seoul official said.

None of the detained were directly employed by Hyundai, according to the company. LG Energy said 47 of its employees were arrested, while others were employed by contractors at the site.

Videos showed U.S. immigration officials directing hundreds of workers to line up outside the factory. Some were ordered to put their hands up against a bus as their waists and ankles were shackled.

Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com

9. Immigration Raid Exposes Tensions From Seoul to Washington to Rural Georgia

I guess the federal government is just too large because the right hand cannot talk to the left. Industrial policy versus immigration. Foreign direct investment versus immigration. National security and alliance relationships versus immigration. Maybe the problem is with ICE and the quotas for arrests it has to meet. Was the Georgia raid an easy way to put a large dent in the arrest quota? And of course it is simply theater for ICE. "They are doing something" is the only message. Did the Georgia raid make America safer from "illegal immigrants?" 

Immigration Raid Exposes Tensions From Seoul to Washington to Rural Georgia

The raid at a Georgia plant being built with heavy investment from South Korea reveals strain as a rush to expand manufacturing in the United States clashes with an immigration crackdown.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/us/immigration-raid-georgia.html

Vehicles move on the line at the Hyundai Motor Group plant in Ellabell, Ga. in March. Another part of that complex, still under construction, was raided on Thursday. Credit...Mike Stewart/Associated Press

By Jim LynnLydia DePillisRick RojasFarah Stockman and Sean Keenan

Jim Lynn and Sean Keenan reported from Ellabell, Ga.; Lydia DePillis from New York; Rick Rojas from Atlanta and Farah Stockman from Boston.

Published Sept. 6, 2025

Updated Sept. 7, 2025

A stretch of rural southeast Georgia, just outside Savannah, has been transforming rapidly in recent years, as a plan to create a massive manufacturing hub capable of producing nearly half a million vehicles per year has come to fruition.

The complex has embodied the ambitions of South Korean automakers wanting to compete in the U.S. market. It has also been a crowning achievement in a long campaign by Georgia officials to draw Korean investment. Until recently, crews had been busy building the latest piece of that effort, a plant making batteries for electric vehicles.

But that vision has become clouded by uncertainty after federal immigration authorities raided the plant on Thursday, halting construction. Nearly 500 workers — many of them South Korean citizens — were arrested.

The raids, described by government officials as the largest Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single site, have exposed growing strain that reaches from Seoul to Washington and even a small, unincorporated community like Ellabell, Ga., where the plant is being built.

South Korea, an enthusiastic trading partner, expressed frustration with the United States. Within the Trump administration, the arrests have revealed competing interests, as a push by the president to expand U.S. manufacturing has collided with his aggressive crackdown on immigration. And in Ellabel and the surrounding area, the raids have revealed conflicting emotions about how quickly the region is changing, and over who is filling the jobs that are being created.

Law enforcement officials said the raid on Thursday followed a monthslong investigation into suspicions of unlawful employment practices at the HL-GA Battery Company plant, a joint venture of LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor Group. Margaret E. Heap, the U.S. attorney for southern Georgia, said in a statement that the operation had been intended to “prevent employers from gaining an unfair advantage by hiring unauthorized workers.”

On Sunday, government officials with South Korea said they had reached an agreement with the United States to free the Korean workers and fly them back to that country. But beyond that, many details of the raid and what the investigation found remained unclear, including which individuals were arrested and their immigration statuses, what roles they had been hired to fill and the conditions at the work site. The investigation has not yet yielded criminal charges.

Image

A protest outside the Hyundai plant complex on Saturday, in Ellabell, Ga.Credit...USA TODAY Network, via Reuters

What is clear, though, is that the raid has sent shock waves across the Pacific, said Tami Overby, an international business consultant who formerly led the U.S.-Korea Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“Talking to my friends last night, I had one guy say, ‘We’re getting mixed messages from the administration: You want our money, but you don’t want us,’” Ms. Overby said. “It had a chilling impact all across board rooms in Asia.”

In Georgia, local politicians and labor organizers have raised concerns about the possibility that undocumented people were being hired to work at the site, where construction began in 2023, and whether labor conditions met legal standards. Three workers have died at the complex over the past three years.

Barry Zeigler, the business manager of UA Local Union 188, which represents plumbers, pipe-fitters, welders and air-conditioning technicians, expressed outrage over his members not being given more work at the site. He said that 65 of them had been let go from the battery plant several months ago after being hired to install steel piping.

“Georgians were promised those jobs,” Mr. Zeigler said.

“I don’t have a problem with the Koreans being here and trying to make a living over here,” he added. But he said he had a problem with people who were not authorized to work “stealing our jobs.”

Neither Hyundai Motor Company nor LG Energy Solution have commented on employment practices at the site. LG Energy Solution acknowledged that its employees and those from partnering companies had been detained. Hyundai said that none of its employees were being held, but that a review had been initiated to ensure that outside contractors and partnering companies “maintain the same high standards of legal compliance that we demand of ourselves.”

South Korean companies have poured billions of dollars into U.S. factories in recent years, becoming the top foreign investor in new projects in the United States in 2023.

Much of that investment has been supported by federal subsidies passed during the Biden administration for electric vehicles and semiconductors — and aggressively pursued by state governments, which have added sweeteners.

Hyundai alone has said it plans to invest $21 billion between 2025 and 2028, on top of the $20.5 billion it has already invested. The Hyundai-LG electric vehicle complex is slated to receive up to $2.1 billion in tax breaks, in exchange for investing $7.6 billion and employing 8,500 workers by 2031.

The push has intensified this year, as President Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on automobiles. Those levies cost Hyundai more than $600 million in the second quarter of this year, the company reported.

In July, with support from chief executives of the largest industrial conglomerates in South Korea, the country struck a deal with the White House that set 15 percent tariffs on all other imports from South Korea. In addition, South Korea pledged to invest another $350 billion into the United States.

But building that much in America all at once requires many thousands of construction workers. Factory construction has boomed in the United States in recent years as a result of laws subsidizing semiconductor and clean energy equipment manufacturing, mostly in Republican districts in the industrial Midwest and Southeast. Data centers to feed artificial intelligence models have kept many contractors occupied as well.

But amid that demand for workers, the Trump administration essentially cut off the flow of immigrants who had been arriving at the southern border. In recent months, the Department of Homeland Security has begun increasing work site enforcement operations, which are seen as a more efficient way to get undocumented immigrants to leave the country in large numbers.

“The reality is right now that there’s a work force shortage for construction labor pretty much nationally,” said Didi Caldwell, the chief executive of Global Location Strategies, which helps companies find development sites.

On top of that, she said that hefty tariffs on parts and materials, as well as threats to the independence of the Federal Reserve, were spooking international investors — despite Mr. Trump’s promises to make it easy to build in the United States.

“It’s like we’re running with a weighted vest on, and something like this just puts another few pounds in the vest,” she said.

Experts on the relationship between South Korea and the United States said they were worried that the raid could have damaging consequences, undermining trust and fueling resentments.

“Raiding a factory that has invested record amounts — that’s no way to treat a foreign investment,” said Mark Keam, the president of the Korean American Institute, a policy research organization.

Abraham Kim, the president of the Council of Korean Americans, a nonprofit in Washington, said the arrests struck him as counterproductive, especially as Korean Americans have made strides in pushing back against stereotypes of Asians being unwelcome in America.

“There has been a history of our community feeling like we’re outsiders,” he said. “These are not healthy stereotypes.”

Georgia has eagerly sought investment by South Korean businesses, with Gov. Brian Kemp visiting the country twice since taking office. Korean companies have invested in plants making batteries, semiconductor materials and solar panels, as well as a large-scale bakery and food distribution center. On Wednesday, Gov. Kemp announced that JS Link, a Korean biotechnology company, planned to build a magnet manufacturing facility in Columbus that would create more than 500 jobs.

But the state has also enthusiastically embraced the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard have both worked closely with federal immigration enforcement agents, and the State Patrol was involved in Thursday’s raid.

“In Georgia, we will always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “All companies operating within the state must follow the laws of Georgia and our nation.”

The battery plant is part of the sprawling complex that represented a $12.6 billion investment. Company officials projected that the infusion would have benefits across the state, including creating nearly 40,000 jobs.

In Ellabell, roughly 25 miles from Savannah, the complex covers more than 2,900 acres. Company officials boasted of a parking lot with a canopy of solar panels and a 41-acre park with trails, running tracks, sports fields and picnic areas for employees.

But outside the complex, two-lane country roads now have five lanes jammed with traffic. Twenty-minute commutes now sometimes approach an hour, some residents said.

“It’s definitely not the same around here,” said Derriel Walker, a general foreman with an electric transmission line company.

Jennifer Mutcherson, who has lived in Ellabell for more than four decades, said she wished the complex had not come.

“This is a small community,” she said, adding that she believed officials and business leaders had moved ahead without enough local input. “They didn’t ask us if they should bring it in.”

Sammie Rentz took over an old Piggly Wiggly location and invested $400,000 to create Viet Huong grocery — an investment that had paid off because of the arrival of the complex, he said. The store offers items that include Korean red bean paste and beef bone soup. The packaging on most items is in Korean, with English translations in small type.

Mr. Rentz said he wanted to cater to the newcomers.

“It’s their store,” he said.

On Friday, two men who said they were visiting from Korea came into the store. One was wearing a bright yellow vest with “HL-GA BATTERY” printed on the back. The two men, who declined to give their names, described the situation as “very sad.”

“We’re trying to find our friends,” one of them said.

Mr. Rentz fears the raid will be bad for business — specifically, his.

“Korean workers keep this store going,” he said. “And now, that’s all messed up.”

John Yoon contributed reporting from Seoul.

Lydia DePillis reports on the American economy for The Times. She has been a journalist since 2009, and can be reached at lydia.depillis@nytimes.com.

Rick Rojas is the Atlanta bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the South.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 8, 2025, Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: ICE Raid Sends Mixed Message To South Korea. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

10. Kim Jong-un 'pocketing $2,000 a month wages of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine'

​KJU the "businessman" - renting his military for personal profit.

So much evil under that one of a kind haircut he has (see photo).

Kim Jong-un 'pocketing $2,000 a month wages of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine'

North Korean soldiers were deployed to the battle field in Ukraine and "ended up on the front line as cannon fodder" says Hyun-Seung Lee.

Express · Brigid Brown, Rob Virtue · September 6, 2025

The soldiers reportedly thought they were going to Ukraine as support units but ended up on the front lines (Image: Getty Images )

Kim Jong-un is reportedly profiting handsomely from North Korean soldiers fighting as "cannon fodder" in Putin's war in Ukraine. The dictator is allegedly pocketing the $2,000 monthly salaries of troops sent to support Russia. North Korean defector Hyun-Seung Lee, who was drafted into the army at 17, claims that these soldiers were misled into believing they would serve as support units in Ukraine, only to find themselves on the front lines.

Hyun-Seung, a former member of the elite Storm Core unit dispatched to Ukraine before his defection in 2014, stated: "Most of the soldiers were supposed to die in this battlefield and Kim Jong-Un is making huge amounts money off those sacrifices," reports the Daily Star. Speaking to the Guardian's Today in Focus podcast, Hyun-Seung revealed: "According to media reports, soldiers get paid $2,000 a month. North Korea never shared this money with the family members or soldiers. So Kim Jong-un is making a huge amount of money."

He further explained the stark contrast in military pay within North Korea, noting: "Even when I was in the military, I got paid 50 North Korean Won per month, with which I could purchase a single ice cream and even general in North Korea are not paid enough. Their salary would be $1 per month and mostly they relied on the government's rations."

Approximately 4,000 of the 14,000 North Korean soldiers stationed at the front lines in Russia's conflict with Ukraine are reported to have sustained injuries, with about 600 fatalities. Many troops were under the impression they were either heading to Russia for training or to engage South Koreans in combat.

North Korean specialist Jean Lee commented on a podcast that the Soviet Union was modern North Korea's initial patron, and ties between the nations were rekindled when "Mad Vlad" sought Kim's assistance in his unlawful incursion into Ukraine.

She remarked: "For the first time in many, many years, maybe ever, North Korea had something that Russia needed and that was a friend and a partner in this campaign in Ukraine.

Lee said: "And the value for Vladimir Putin of having foot soldiers who might well be cannon fodder probably saves him some bodies, but also gives him a little bit of leverage in terms of selling this to the Russian people."

She added: "In that sense I think the troops on the ground do play that frontline role that could help him prolong the conflict. But also there are very few countries that have that Soviet era ammunition that Putin needs, other than North Korea. They still have stockpiles of it."

She concluded: "I do think Kim Jong-un is going to milk this relationship for as long as he can, as long as it is useful. And it has been very useful for a couple of years now."

Last week, Kim met with the grieving families of soldiers who lost their lives fighting for Russia against Ukraine. He expressed his "deep condolences" and presented them with portraits of their deceased loved ones, draped in the North Korean flag.

Today, Kim was seen alongside Putin in Beijing following China's military parade commemorating 80 years since the country's victory over Japan in World War Two.

After a two-and-a-half-hour meeting on the sidelines of the parade, Putin extended an invitation to Kim to visit Russia. The Russian leader praised North Korean soldiers for their efforts fighting alongside his forces in Ukraine.

Express · Brigid Brown, Rob Virtue · September 6, 2025

11. North Koreans get rare glimpse of Chinese military might in TV program on parade

​Maybe China and north Korea will have a parade competition. Who can create the bigger spectacle? Who can force more people to take part in the parade? (I am actually putting my money on north Korea).

North Koreans get rare glimpse of Chinese military might in TV program on parade

State TV documentary on Kim Jong Un’s China trip also reveals he stayed at DPRK Embassy, suggesting security concerns

https://www.nknews.org/2025/09/north-koreans-get-rare-glimpse-of-chinese-military-might-in-tv-program-on-parade/

Colin Zwirko September 8, 2025

Kim Jong Un arrives at Tiananmen Square in Beijing to watch the military parade on Sept. 3 | Image: KCTV (Sept. 6, 2025)

North Korean state TV aired a 50-minute documentary on Saturday about Kim Jong Un’s trip to China to attend a military parade, highlighting the leader’s bilateral talks with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping and giving domestic viewers a rare glimpse of Beijing’s advanced weapons development.

The Korean Central Television (KCTV) program also revealed that Kim stayed at the DPRK Embassy in Beijing during his three-day, two-night visit, suggesting he chose the safety of the North Korean facility instead of a state guesthouse due to concerns over his security. (View the documentary here at the 10-hour mark, or here.) 

KIM STAYS AT DPRK EMBASSY 

The documentary started with a trope common in programs on Kim’s summits with foreign leaders, showing newspaper headlines and TV towers of various major cities to suggest the whole world was focused on the leader’s activities with great interest.

It then showed Kim arriving at a large ceremony organized by the Chinese government at the Beijing Railway Station on the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 2. It did not show any departure ceremony from Pyongyang, after state print media published just one photo of his train at Sinuiju Station on the Chinese border before dawn Tuesday. 

Kim’s location and schedule on Sunday and Monday prior to leaving for China remains unconfirmed. State media said he inspected unnamed missile production facilities on those days, possibly both in Hamhung on the east coast.

Dozens of Chinese schoolchildren participated in the government ceremony for Kim’s arrival at the Beijing train station | Image: KCTV (Sept. 6, 2025)

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After arriving in Beijing, Kim and his young daughter appeared to get into his Maybach stretch limo, and aerial shots showed his motorcade traveling through wide and completely empty boulevards. The motorcade featured two identical Maybach limos, with one possibly serving as a decoy for security purposes.

They arrived at the DPRK Embassy, where Kim’s bodyguards appeared sprinting alongside his limos before he got out and greeted Ambassador Ri Ryong Nam and other officials. 

His daughter and assumed successor as DPRK dictator appeared in typical well choreographed fashion, shadowing him while smiling, clapping and making eye contact with Chinese and DPRK officials at the train station and embassy but not shaking hands or directly greeting people. Her name is believed to be Kim Ju Ae, but state media has yet to mention her name and the documentary did not directly mention her presence.

Top DPRK officials were shown entering the embassy, but the rest of Kim’s activities during his stay were not included in the documentary. 

MILITARY PARADE

The next segment showed 30 foreign heads of state and dignitaries arriving at the military parade on Wednesday morning and making a long walk past a Chinese honor guard, naming each guest, before finally showing Kim arrive and then Putin after him.

The arrival of South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik appeared to be intentionally omitted from this segment, reflecting Pyongyang’s strict anti-ROK policy. Woo approached Kim before the event and the two shook hands, but Kim appeared to reject meaningful contact.

Putin appears excited to meet Kim soon after they arrive at the parade venue on Sept. 3 | Image: KCTV (Sept. 6, 2025)

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By showing so many world leaders arriving ahead of Kim, and then focusing on how Kim, Xi and Putin walked and talked together as a separate group from dozens of high-level foreign guests, DPRK propagandists were able to suggest to domestic viewers that Kim received special attention and honors not afforded to the vast majority of attendees.

The narrator also said Kim “exchanged greetings” with leaders of “various nations” before the parade. But it only showed footage of Putin approaching him and hugging him enthusiastically, not shots of Kim meeting the leaders of Belarus, Myanmar, Vietnam and Malaysia. 

Notably, the next segment of the documentary dedicated significant screentime to showing and describing China’s advanced new weaponry to domestic viewers, including nuclear missiles. This was likely the first time most North Koreans would have been given such a detailed look at China’s growing military power, giving them a reference point for comparing arsenals ahead of a large-scale DPRK military parade set to take place on Oct. 10.

As the goose-stepping troops and missiles flowed past the viewing stand, Kim appeared to chat extensively withXi and ask him questions, while also sitting up watching proceedings closely in comparison to other world leaders. This was likely related to Kim’s well documented personal interest in military parades, as well as an interest in seeing and understanding China’s capabilities up close.

The documentary introduced China’s advanced nuclear missiles to North Korean viewers | Image: KCTV (Sept. 6, 2025)

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The documentary’s narrator said that after the parade, Kim expressed his positive impression of “China’s modern People’s Liberation Army with Xi Jinping at the center.”

A comical moment between Kim and Xi took place as they entered the post-parade reception, with the film showing Xi saying something to Kim before they both turn around looking for interpreters who weren’t there.

While Kim’s bodyguards, led by his new top man, closely watched him throughout the trip, none appeared directly behind him as he sat with his back toward thousands of guests at the reception — a sign of his team’s confidence in China’s screening procedures at the event.

PUTIN AND XI TALKS

After the reception, Kim met up with Putin at the door and entered the Russian leader’s limousine along with his sister Kim Yo Jong and Putin’s interpreter. Video footage showed Kim and Putin talking and laughing during the ride as the narrator said they exchanged “friendly and warm” talks. It’s possible Kim Yo Jong was the one filming. 

The two also appeared to be laughing and joking together in an earlier clip of Kim and Putin chatting after watching the parade.

The narrator’s remarks on the two leaders’ talks at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse were similar to the official DPRK state media readout released earlier last week. 

Putin and Kim laugh and chat inside the Russian leader’s limo after the reception | Image: KCTV (Sept. 6, 2025)

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It’s possible that they talked about the current state of diplomacy over the war on Ukraine and Putin’s recent meeting with U.S. leader Donald Trump, or even cooperation on specific weapons trade or development, though they may have also been concerned about potential Chinese surveillance.

Immediately following scenes of Putin seeing off Kim’s motorcade Wednesday night, the documentary shifted to show Kim arriving at the Great Hall of the People with an entourage of diplomatic officials on Thursday evening for his summit with Xi Jinping. It remains unclear what Kim did earlier that day.

The narrator again described the extended talks and bilateral relations with positive platitudes similar to the official state media readout released on Friday. Kim and Xi held one-on-one talks for tea and cookies afterward, followed by a dinner again involving diplomatic officials from both sides. 

The two leaders appeared friendly throughout the event, but overall, the documentary presented a stark contrast between Kim and Putin’s frequent banter and Kim’s more formal and distant relations with Xi.

The North Korean leader’s motorcade appeared to leave the talks directly for the Beijing Railway Station, arriving at 9:56 p.m. local time, according to a clock seen in the background as his limo rolled up to his train.

Kim boarded with his officials, pumping his fist and waving to Chinese officials and dozens of children holding Chinese and DPRK flags as the train departed. 

The documentary only showed two still images previously released by print state media on Saturday of Kim, his daughter and officials looking out the train window and exiting the train at an unidentified station in Pyongyang on Friday.

The absence of any departure or arrival ceremonies on either end of the trip are conspicuous, given Kim has typically held such events when leaving the country in the past.

It could have been due to impromptu missile factory visits prior to leaving, as well as Kim possibly having to prepare for as yet unannounced events related to Tuesday’s National Day celebrations.

Edited by Bryan Betts

12. North Korean military engineers already deployed to Kursk, governor confirms

​It is dangerous work but someone has to do it so that KJU can make money.

North Korean military engineers already deployed to Kursk, governor confirms

DPRK ‘comrades-in-arms’ supporting demining operations in Russian border region following joint effort to repel Ukraine

https://www.nknews.org/2025/09/north-korean-military-engineers-already-deployed-to-kursk-governor-confirms/

Anton Sokolin September 8, 2025

An ROK sign warning of landmines | Image: NK News

North Korean military engineers have joined Russian forces to carry out demining operations in Kursk, according to the region’s governor, following a joint effort to repel a Ukrainian incursion that ended earlier this year.

“Comrades-in-arms from North Korea are joining” Russian emergency ministry and guard units in removing mines from border areas, the first step toward rebuilding infrastructure damaged in the fighting, Kursk’s acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said in a televised election debate on Friday.

“Out of 122 settlements designated for the first stage of demining, 60 have already been cleared by our deminers and explosives specialists.”

The new deployment follows leader Kim Jong Un’s order to dispatch 5,000 construction workers and 1,000 clearance specialists to Kursk in June, following the dispatch of 12,000 DPRK troops for combat operations from last October.

Following the order, Khinstein announced that 1,000 North Korean demining specialists would soon arrive in Kursk, falling under the purview of Russia’s defense ministry. 

But Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said that several roadblocks had to be cleared before their arrival, such as issues providing accommodation and equipment and defining specific projects and costs.

Both Moscow and Pyongyang have publicly acknowledged their joint military operation in Kursk, and some of the soldiers and commanders returned to Pyongyang for award ceremonies led by Kim Jong Un, with state media revealing the deaths of hundreds of North Korean servicemen on the frontlines of the Ukraine war.

It’s unclear how many soldiers from the original DPRK contingent remain in Russia following reports of border skirmishes in March. South Korea’s intelligence agency recently assessed that Pyongyang could deploy another 6,000 soldiers soon.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has reportedly denied the deployment of North Korean troops to Ukraine proper, with Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stating that DPRK forces are only stationed in Russia, according to Russian state media.

However, the statement raised questions about whether North Korean soldiers are in contested parts of Ukraine that Russia claims as its own.

Chris Monday, a Russia expert at Dongseo University, said North Korea has so far respected Ukrainian territory by not sending combat troops there, while noting that “Russia claims Crimea and four oblasts in Donbas as Russian.”

The West “warned Putin not to use North Korean troops and not to send them into Ukrainian territory,” the expert told NK News. “Putin has used the threat of North Korea to back the West down into not sending missiles into Ukrainian territory, sending NATO troops to Ukraine or imposing a naval blockade on the Baltic Sea.”

Monday suggested that China is currently serving as a “restraint” on Russia-DPRK cooperation, but raised the possibility of greater Chinese support for North Korea military activities in Ukraine following Kim Jong Un’s attendance at a military parade in Beijing last week.

There have been sporadic reports of North Korean troops and weapons in occupied Ukrainian territory since last year. DPRK artillery systems were spotted in Crimea in March, while a Ukrainian official claimed that North Korean military specialists were in the Russia-controlled city of Mariupol last fall.

Edited by Bryan Betts

13. Editorial: South Korea-U.S. must urgently prevent worker arrest recurrence

Editorial: South Korea-U.S. must urgently prevent worker arrest recurrence

Institutional safeguards, including streamlined visas, needed to avoid recurrence of Georgia crackdown

https://www.chosun.com/english/opinion-en/2025/09/08/KYPE3I23VRHEFCMLHQ6UC65XFE/

By The Chosunilbo

Published 2025.09.08. 00:10

Updated 2025.09.08. 13:56

On the 4th, local time, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raided the construction site of a joint battery factory between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Georgia State, conducting a surprise inspection and detaining over 300 Korean employees. /ICE Homepage

A joint crackdown by U.S. immigration and investigative authorities on undocumented individuals at a Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution joint battery plant in Georgia resulted in the arrest of over 300 Korean employees, technicians, and workers. This marked the largest single-site operation in U.S. history. Scenes of individuals restrained with chains or cable ties, alongside the deployment of military vehicles and helicopters, resembled a military operation. The incident has severely undermined trust in South Korea’s efforts to contribute to the U.S. economy through large-scale investments.

President Donald Trump had invited Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Eui-sun to the White House several months ago to express gratitude for the factory investment. During President Lee Jae-myung’s visit to the U.S. late last month, he pledged an additional $150 billion factory alongside a $350 billion investment fund. Despite South Korea’s alignment with U.S. manufacturing revival policies, this crackdown has caused shock. Cutting off electric vehicle subsidies promised by the former President Joe Biden’s administration and conducting such a ruthless operation is unacceptable for an ally. Even prominent U.S. media outlets criticized the lack of prior notification to a close ally.

The Trump administration’s simultaneous pressure on investment and large-scale visa crackdowns is contradictory. While Korean companies have reportedly dispatched personnel to U.S. factory sites on non-work visas—a practice driven by tight construction deadlines and difficulties in obtaining timely work visas—the U.S. authorities’ failure to issue visas on schedule has forced such measures. Questions arise: Why target Korean factories when Taiwan and others are also building plants in the U.S.?

Now, South Korean companies face heightened anxiety over policy uncertainties tied to U.S. political shifts. Fundamental doubts emerge: What does the U.S. mean by “alliance,” and are investment benefits guaranteed across administrations?

Fortunately, after three days of negotiations between the South Korean and U.S. governments, the detained individuals are expected to return home via charter flights. However, this is not the end. The government must recognize the severity of the situation and respond swiftly. It should convey domestic concerns—such as “Should we continue investing in the U.S.?”—to U.S. authorities and demand strong guarantees to prevent recurrence. Institutional safeguards, including streamlined visa issuance, are urgently needed to address uncertainties in U.S. investments.

※ This article has been translated by Upstage Solar AI.

14. Park Ji-won: Kim Ju-ae not successor, son studying abroad

​Now this is something we should think about. Kim shows us his daughter to distract our focus from his son. And we of course take the bait because it is so interesting to consider his daughter as the successor.

Park Ji-won: Kim Ju-ae not successor, son studying abroad

Ex-NIS director claims Kim Ju-ae's role hides son's studies, citing no female successors in socialist states

https://www.chosun.com/english/north-korea-en/2025/09/08/N5WAHFKD3ZBQXGKBD4ZLD555TM/

By Kim Myeong-il

Published 2025.09.08. 11:24

Updated 2025.09.08. 15:42

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won. /Newsis

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ji-won, who attended the military parade for Victory Day in China, commented on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter Kim Ju-ae appearing on the multilateral diplomatic stage, saying, “The Western world, and even our country, claims that Kim Ju-ae will become Kim Jong-un’s successor or is receiving succession training, but I do not see it that way.”

Park, who served as Director of the National Intelligence Service during the Moon Jae-in administration, appeared on the YTN Radio program *Kim Young-soo’s The Interview* on the 8th and stated, “In socialist states or feudal societies, there has never been a case where a daughter or a woman became a successor or head of state.” He added, “In my view, (Kim Jong-un’s) son is likely studying abroad in the West. They are promoting Kim Ju-ae to conceal this.”

Park noted, “Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong were studying in Switzerland around Kim Ju-ae’s age, but no one knew at the time. Of course, it’s true that Kim Jong-un dotes on Kim Ju-ae. Don’t all fathers dote on their daughters?”

Park emphasized, “Kim Ju-ae did come to China, but she did not appear at official events like the military parade or banquet. Since she holds no official position, she would not have been invited to formal Chinese events. Kim Ju-ae is not the successor.”

On September 2, 2025, in the afternoon, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, arriving by a special train at Beijing Station in Beijing, the Chinese capital, is exchanging greetings. His daughter Kim Ju-ae stands behind. /The Korean Central News Agency-Yonhap

Regarding being ignored by Kim Jong-un during their meeting at the Victory Day commemorative event at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the 3rd of last month, Park said, “I don’t think it’s bad or negative.”

Describing the situation, Park recalled, “I was a few feet behind him, so I called out twice, ‘Mr. Kim Jong-un, this is Park Ji-won,’ but he didn’t turn around. Security personnel strongly restrained me, so I thought, ‘If he doesn’t look back after this, it’s fine,’ and returned.”

Park added that he greeted North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui by saying, “Comrade Choe! Long time no see!” but was also ignored.

Park concluded, “The fact that National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, after meeting Kim Jong-un for the first time in seven years, greeted him with ‘Nice to meet you,’ to which Kim Jong-un responded and shook hands, the fact that I called out to him, and the eye contact with Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui—these are significantly positive signals. It was a successful encounter.”

※ This article has been translated by Upstage Solar AI.

15. U.S. raid at Hyundai-LG site triggers turmoil among Korean firms, shakes confidence in American projects

No strategic thinking in ICE. No consideration of 2d and 3d order effects. Just quotas. Actions driven by ideology and not common sense or strategic thinking. And their actions did not make America safer.

(News Focus) U.S. raid at Hyundai-LG site triggers turmoil among Korean firms, shakes confidence in American projects | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · Chang Dong-woo · September 8, 2025

By Chang Dong-woo

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- The detention of more than 300 South Korean workers in a sweeping U.S. immigration raid is causing serious concerns among companies here, with many casting doubts over whether the United States remains a reliable destination for South Korean investments, industry observers said Monday.

The crackdown took place Thursday (local time) at a construction site for an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant being built by a Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution Ltd. joint venture in Bryan County, near Savannah, Georgia.

While Seoul and Washington are working to arrange the voluntary return of the detained workers, the raid has created confusion across the South Korean business community, forcing firms to reassess risks and the broader political climate for doing business in the U.S.

Kim Pil-soo, an automotive engineering professor at Daelim University, called the incident "humiliating" and warned it could slow or even force a reassessment of U.S. projects.

"This was not just about detaining some 300 people -- it was an insult. Inevitably, U.S. investment will have to be reconsidered or delayed," Kim told Yonhap News Agency.

The professor, a prominent figure in South Korea's auto industry, said he has advised companies to rethink their U.S. strategies after the incident, citing "the lack of skilled workers, high labor costs and the world's most powerful unions" in America.

This photo, captured from the social media X account of the Atlanta bureau of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, shows agents carrying out a raid at the Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution venture's electric vehicle battery plant construction site in Ellabell, located in Bryan County, west of Savannah, in Georgia on Sept. 4, 2025. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

He also noted that the raid could deter investments tied to the joint South Korea-U.S. MASGA, or Make American Shipbuilding Great Again, initiative, aimed at revitalizing the U.S. shipbuilding sector.

Kim argued the South Korean government should not simply let the matter slide, stressing the need to secure an apology and set up preventive measures.

"Unless thorough safeguards are put in place, such as special programs tied to MASGA, South Korean investments in the U.S. will inevitably be reconsidered or delayed," he predicted.

Some industry insiders voiced skepticism over Washington's handling of the incident, particularly noting President Donald Trump's comments in the wake of the crackdown that the U.S. maintains a "great" relationship with South Korea.

"There is a big gap between the president's words and the on-the-ground reality, and it only deepens confusion for companies," one industry official said.

Business associations, though refraining from issuing official statements, have also been put on alert.

"This is a highly sensitive issue, and both businesses and the government are paying close attention with concern," an official at a major lobby group said, asking not to be named.

In the wake of the raid, conglomerates have moved to contain further U.S.-related risks.

LG Energy Solution has ordered an immediate suspension of all U.S. business trips except for essential client meetings.

Hyundai Motor also halted nonessential travel while reviewing compliance with American immigration and employment laws. The company stressed that its Korean staff already in the U.S. are working on valid visas.

This photo, captured from a video clip from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shows people arrested during an immigration raid on an electric vehicle battery plant construction site, operated by South Korean companies Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution Ltd., on Sept. 4, 2025, (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Other firms have begun internal reviews of work scopes under different visa categories and sought legal advice from law firms.

"From the U.S. side, they cannot indefinitely suspend the plant construction if they want to keep attracting investment and jobs," another industry source said. "Trump's comments should be the starting point for more concrete and forward-looking discussions."

For Hyundai Motor Group, officials said there has been no change in long-term plans.

Last month, the world's third-largest automotive group announced a plan to invest US$26 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, with a focus on steel, automobiles and robotics.

"So far, there have been no internal discussions about altering our investment plans," a Hyundai official said, noting the resumption of construction at the battery plant site in Georgia will depend on LG Energy Solution's circumstances.

Other conglomerates have underscored the need for vigilance.

"All of our U.S.-based staff are on expatriate visas, so we do not see immediate impacts," said an official at South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean, which operates Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia.

"We are running our own skilled worker training program at Philly Shipyard, but we are watching the situation closely since it has affected other Korean firms," he added.

Some experts argued the detentions should also prompt introspection over labor practices of South Korea. Many of the detained South Koreans reportedly had short-term or recreational visas that prohibit employment.

Chung Ji-young, professor emeritus of trade at Jeonbuk National University, said the incident could discourage South Korean investments to the U.S. but stressed the need to understand the background.

"The Trump administration's principle is to create jobs through manufacturing, but some Korean firms had developed a habit of hiring people without proper visas. While the investigation methods can be criticized, there are lessons to be learned," Chung said.

Steven Schrank (C), special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia, speaks during a press briefing on Sept. 5, 2025, in this photo captured from a livestream of WTVC News Channel 9. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

odissy@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · Chang Dong-woo · September 8, 2025

16. N. Korea's Kim likely conditioned China visit on dropping denuclearization call: minister

​Kim pays his pair of twos poker hand (and wins) against everyone.

(LEAD) N. Korea's Kim likely conditioned China visit on dropping denuclearization call: minister | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · Park Boram · September 8, 2025

(ATTN: UPDATES with more comments in last 3 paras)

SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have demanded that China make no mention of a goal of denuclearizing his country as a condition for his attendance at the recent military parade in Beijing, South Korea's unification minister said Monday.

Minister Chung Dong-young raised the possibility during a parliamentary session after Kim's rare trip to China last week.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young speaks during a session of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee on Aug. 20, 2025. (Yonhap)

During the trip, Kim attended a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Wednesday, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese and Russian presidents in a show of trilateral solidarity to the world.

Kim also held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but the outcome contained no reference to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a major departure from the four summits they held between 2018 and 2019, when Beijing consistently called for it.

"I presume that (Kim) may have strongly demanded no mention of denuclearization as a condition for his attendance (at the military parade)," Chung noted.

He said from North Korea's perspective, Kim's attendance at the event may have represented "a significant symbolic diplomatic accomplishment."

"He may have appeared at the event out of confidence that (North Korea) is a nuclear-armed country," Chung added.

The minister also said the results of the Kim-Xi talks suggested North Korea's pledge of support for what he described as China's potential invasion of Taiwan.

According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency, Kim pledged during the meeting to support China's stand and efforts to "defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests."

"In other words, this can be translated as a pledge of support for a (potential) invasion of Taiwan," the minister said.

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · Park Boram · September 8, 2025

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com