South Korea says it has completed talks with U.S. officials aimed at repatriating its nationals detained while working at a construction site for Hyundai in Georgia.
The government in Seoul is charting a plane to bring back South Korean nationals caught up in the ICE raid once administrative procedures are completed.
“We will not let our guard down until we have our people safely back home,” said Kang Hun Sik, the presidential chief of staff.
Mr Kang added that Seoul was trying to improve the visa system to prevent such incidents happening again in future.
US federal agents arrested 475 people this week during a raid at a Hyundai manufacturing facility in Ellabell, about 48km west of Savannah, in the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security's investigations. About 300 of those detained are South Korean, according to reports.
Homeland Security said the arrests were part of an “ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes".
A judge approved the warrant following a months-long investigation, according to Steve Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Securities Investigations Atlanta. Donald Trump defended the arrests, saying: "They were illegal aliens and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was just doing its job."
Mr Schrank said many of the factory’s workers were living and working in the U.S. without legal permission. “This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses,” he said during a press conference Friday.
"This operation sends a clear message that those who exploit the system and undermine our workforce will be held accountable," he added.
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung had called for “all-out necessary measures” to support the arrested nationals.
The ICE raid targeted a sprawling, 3,000-acre complex in a state under Republican leadership, which has previously hailed the $7.6bn (£5.3bn) Hyundai Motor Group investment as one of the largest economic development projects in Georgia’s history. LG Energy Solution, which operates the plant with Hyundai, alleged that several LG employees arrested were on business trips under different visas.
Charles Kuck, an attorney representing two arrested South Korean nationals, said his clients arrived under the visa waiver program and were legally in the US for tourism or business. He told the Associated Press that one of them had been in the US for only two weeks, while the other had been there for 45 days.
South Korea's biggest automaker began manufacturing electric vehicles last year at the plant, which employs more than 1,000 people.
On Sunday, a group of ruling party lawmakers urged the Trump administration to treat the arrested South Koreans properly. If the U.S. sincerely wants to win investment from South Korean businesses, such large-scale detainment of Korean citizens should not have happened, the group said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.
The South Korean government recently reached a major trade deal with Washington, which includes a $350bn (£259bn) fund to help Korean companies enter the American market.
Mr Trump is expected to visit South Korea in October for a gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, CNN reported on Saturday, citing three Trump administration officials.
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