First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Yoon-joo (right) and Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Sept. 14 shake hands before their bilateral talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul's Jongno-gu District. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

By Xu Aiying

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau has expressed "deep regret" over the mass detention of Korean workers in the U.S. state of Georgia in an immigration raid. He is the first American official to express regret over the incident.

He said this on Sept. 14 at bilateral talks with First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Yoon-joo at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul's Jongno-gu District.

The ministry quoted Deputy Secretary Landau as expressing "deep regret" over the incident but suggested that it serve as a turning point for both countries to improve the system and reinforce bilateral relations.

Because U.S. President Donald Trump has keen interest in the case, he added, Korean workers will face no disadvantages in reentering the U.S. and Washington will strive to prevent similar incidents.

The U.S. recognizes that Korean corporate investment in America has greatly contributed to the revival of the U.S. economy and manufacturing, Deputy Secretary Landau said, urging joint institutional support for this and speed up of working-level consultations on follow-up measures for visa issuance commensurate with the contributions of Korean workers.

Vice Minister Park mentioned the unfair and uncomfortable treatment that the Korean workers endured while in immigration detention and urged Washington to "take practical actions to prevent recurrence and improve the system to assuage the Korean public's concern."

On his social media site Truth Social, President Trump said, "I don't want to frighten off or disincentivize investment into America by outside countries or companies."

"When foreign companies who are building extremely complex products, machines, and various other 'things,' come into the United States with massive investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our country, and back into their land."

He did not mention a specific country or company, but his comment is considered to be about the mass detention of Korean workers by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

On Sept. 4, 317 such staff at an electric vehicle battery plant being built in Ellabell, Georgia, by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution were arrested and detained by ICE for undocumented residence and employment. All were released on the morning of Sept. 11.

xuaiy@korea.kr