South Korea-U.S. ties strained after ICE raid at Hyundai plant

South Korea’s top diplomat is in Washington today at a tense moment for relations between Seoul and Washington.

(CNN)- South Korea’s top diplomat is in Washington today at a tense moment for relations between Seoul and Washington, as the detention of hundreds of South Korean nationals in Georgia sparks outrage abroad.

Roughly 300 workers were taken into custody last week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with other agencies, raided a Hyundai plant under construction near Savannah. The facility, slated to open next year, is set to become Hyundai’s first U.S. site dedicated to electric vehicles and batteries. Korean Air has indicated it may begin flying detainees home as soon as tomorrow.

President Donald Trump defended the raid, saying, “ICE was doing right because they were here illegally.” But not all agree with that characterization.

Charles Kuck, an attorney representing two of the detained workers, argues some were in the United States legally under business visitor programs. “Under the ESTA Business Visitor or the B1 Business Visitor program, you can come in and go to business meetings. You can do engineering oversight. You can do after-sales service and installation, which is what these people were doing in the United States,” Kuck explained.

The raid has stirred anger in South Korea, where businesses have invested billions of dollars in the U.S.—much of it encouraged by Trump.  Legal experts warn the arrests could jeopardize future investment.

“Obviously, they’re going to have huge hesitation about investing in the U.S. if your employees are going to be treated like common criminals,” said Cho Hee-kyoung, a law professor at Hongik University.

Trump himself acknowledged the need for foreign expertise in setting up the Georgia facility. “We do have to work something out where we bring in experts so that our people can be trained so that they can do it themselves,” he said.