South Korea says detained Korean workers released from Georgia facility before flight home

A South Korean chartered plane that is scheduled to bring back workers detained in a US immigration raid last week on a car battery plant moves on the tarmac at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. (Courtesy: Reuters photo)

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry says US authorities have released 330 workers, mostly Koreans, who were detained at a battery factory under construction in Georgia last week, ahead of their flight back to South Korea.

The workers were being transported by buses to Atlanta where they will board a charter flight scheduled to arrive in South Korea Friday afternoon, the ministry confirmed Thursday.

The September 4 immigration raid at the construction site, which is part of Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant in Georgia, sparked widespread anger in South Korea, coming shortly after Seoul pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in US investments while negotiating to avoid the Trump administration’s highest tariffs.