More than 300 South Korean workers who were detained by US immigration agents at a Hyundai factory in Georgia last week arrived home on Friday.
The surprise raid shocked Seoul and threatened to upend relations with its chief economic and strategic ally, Washington.
South Korea recently pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars in the US to avoid Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Incheon airport in Seoul witnessed emotional scenes as the workers landed on a chartered plane and were greeted with cheers from family members and government officials, including the presidential chief of staff.
The workers, wearing white face masks, were embraced by their family members, including children who had been anxiously waiting for their return.
The chartered Korean Air plane had taken off from Atlanta midday local time on Thursday and arrived in Seoul at 3.23pm local time.
A banner displayed at the airport featured a caricature of Mr Trump as an immigration agent, dressed in black tactical gear, holding a bag and raising an arm in a gesture resembling the Nazi salute, along with a caption that read, “We’re friends! Aren’t we?”
One of the detained Korean workers did not return and instead chose to stay in the US to seek permanent residency, according to local media reports.
The workers were detained by immigration agents during a 4 September raid at a Georgia car factory, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution.
The raid drew widespread criticism as footage showed the workers shackled at their wrists, ankles, and waist.
The workers said they were horrified by the raid that saw US law enforcement agents round up 475 workers at the plant.
The detained workers included, in addition to the South Koreans, 10 Chinese nationals, three Japanese and an Indonesian.
“It started to look serious because we thought we would be taking the transport vehicle, but then they started putting handcuffs and shackles and that’s when we thought, ‘Oh, this is not going to be a simple transport,’” LG Energy Solution engineer Choi Young Hee said.
Their return was delayed by a day as Mr Trump reportedly tried to convince them to stay and train US workers.
The South Korean foreign ministry, however, said the exhausted workers would return home first and return to the US later if necessary.
South Korea’s foreign minister, Cho Hyun, had urged US secretary of state Marco Rubio during a meeting earlier this week to allow the workers not to be shackled during transport to the airport in Atlanta and let them re-enter the US at a later point.
Asked about this, Jang Young Seol, engineer for an LG Energy Solution subcontractor, said he would need to think long and hard about it. “Nobody is going to stay and work when it’s like this,” he said.
Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon Sik said he had come to the airport to highlight how seriously president Lee Jae Myung was taking the incident that had affected “innocent people of Korea”.
“We are in an age of new normal in dealing with the United States,” Mr Kang told reporters. “The standard changes every time and constantly there has to be deal-making, not only on tariffs, but it’ll also be the case with security issues.”
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