World News Random, Random

[Suliso]

If I make some very specific equipment in my company only technicians from my company will know how to install and service it. For example when our company bought a new fancy spectrometer few years ago a guy from the supplying company stayed for a week to make sure everything is proper and works. In that particular the case supplying company was also Swiss, but it didn't have to be.

Having said that US is also short of certain technical positions. Plenty of PhD's from the top universities, but not enough skilled technicians who work with their hands.

[ti-amie]

The Tennessee Holler‬
‪@thetnholler.bsky.social‬
· 27m
“Our employers told us it was ok… I will never visit again. It feels good to be free.”

Hundreds of South Korean workers detained in shackles landed home, met by family who tearfully hugged them.

Arrested building a factory to employ thousands. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/w...

[ti-amie]

Sharon
‪@sharonk.bsky.social‬
korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in




(the people involved were making slant-eyed gestures at detainees)

[ti-amie]

U.S. Deputy State Secretary Landau expresses regrets over detention of S. Koreans
Yoo Jee-ho, 유지호
Yoo Jee-ho
All News 17:42 September 14, 2025


U.S. Deputy State Secretary Christopher Landau (L) and South Korean First Vice Minister Park Yoon-joo pose for photos before their talks at the foreign ministry in Seoul on Sept. 14, 2025, in this photo provided by the ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- A senior U.S. state department official on Sunday expressed regrets over the recent mass detention of South Korean workers in America and vowed to prevent similar occurrences.

Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of state, visited Seoul for a meeting with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo.

According to Seoul's foreign ministry, Landau conveyed his deep regrets over the detention of hundreds of South Korean workers in an immigration crackdown earlier this month at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site for a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County, Georgia. A total of 316 South Korean workers returned home Friday, after being held in a detention center for a week.

Landau also told Park that the two allies should try to use the incident as an opportunity to further strengthen their bilateral ties and improve relevant systems where necessary, according to the ministry.

Landau also said U.S. President Donald Trump has a keen interest in the matter and ensured that those who have returned home will not face any disadvantages when reentering the United States. The state department official said Washington would try to ensure there would be no further incidents of a similar nature in the future.

Landau proposed working-level talks on issuing proper visas for South Korean workers in the U.S., citing a need to provide institutional support for South Korean corporations' investments that contribute to the American economy and manufacturing.

In response, Park touched upon inconveniences that South Korean workers faced while in detention and said the general public in South Korea, in addition to the workers themselves, felt deeply shocked by the crackdown.

According to the ministry, Park also strongly urged the U.S. to take practical steps and implement systematic improvements to ease South Korean people's concerns.
(END)

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20250914003100315

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Trump says foreign experts welcome after South Korean outrage over raid

Ben Berkowitz

President Trump on Sunday said the U.S. welcomes foreign experts to train Americans how to build high-tech goods, days after hundreds of arrested South Korean workers left the country.

Why it matters: The tension between the administration's economic and immigration policies appears to be working itself out in favor of the economic goals.

The blowback from the arrests threatened to rupture one of the most important U.S. alliances in Asia, and put hundreds of billions of dollars in investment pledges at risk.
Catch up quick: On Sept. 4, ICE raided an under-construction electric vehicle battery plant in Georgia, a joint venture of South Korea's Hyundai and LG.

Hundreds of workers were arrested, shackled and hauled off to detention, which provoked national outrage in South Korea. Officials in Seoul eventually sent a plane to retrieve and repatriate those workers.
On Sunday, South Korean media reported that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had visited the country and "conveyed his deep regrets" for the arrests.

That came just days after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told "The Axios Show" it was Hyundai's fault the workers didn't have the right visas, and that the company should have called him for help.
Driving the news: In a lengthy Truth Social post Sunday afternoon, Trump seemed to open the door to foreign workers coming in for training.

"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" before leaving, Trump said.

"If we didn't do this, all of that massive Investment will never come in the first place — Chips, Semiconductors, Computers, Ships, Trains, and so many other products that we have to learn from others how to make, or, in many cases, relearn, because we used to be great at it, but not anymore."
The big picture: Trump's post serves as a frank acknowledgement that the U.S. lacks the know-how to make many of the goods at the heart of the administration's push for foreign investment.

Hyundai alone is on tap to spend $26 billion in the U.S. building auto and battery plants, and South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung recently warned the raid could chill investment in the U.S.
The country's trade deal with the U.S. also calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in investments, some of which was aimed at restoring the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

The intrigue: American officials had rejected any suggestion the raids would scare off foreign companies from expanding in the U.S., but on Sunday, Trump seemed to acknowledge the risk.

"I don't want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies. We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own 'game,' sometime into the not too distant future!" he wrote.
What to watch: Whether the departed South Korean workers return to finish the now-delayed plant, and whether Trump's statement thaws the suddenly icy relations with a crucial partner.


https://www.axios.com/2025/09/14/trump- ... eorgia-ice

[ponchi101]

How to get me back to the USA (if I am one of these Korean workers):
$1MM in the bank, before departure.
Not a VISA. RESIDENCY and a REAL ID card, before I depart.
and... nah, there is no way I go back.

[ponchi101]

And I have to transit through Miami when I go back home. With an Iraqi visa stamped on my passport.
Wish me luck.

[dryrunguy]

And I have to transit through Miami when I go back home. With an Iraqi visa stamped on my passport.
Wish me luck.

I would strongly discourage trying to get to Miami via speedboat... Seriously, best of luck to you, ponchi.