Seoul, Sep 12, 2025
Most Korean workers rejoiced on Friday as they returned home after days of detention in last week’s US immigration raid, with some breaking down in tears during the long-awaited reunions with their families.
“I’m back! Freedom!” one of the workers shouted after arriving at Incheon International Airport.
The worker was among 316 South Koreans and 14 foreigners who arrived at the airport, just west of Seoul, aboard a chartered plane from Georgia following their release from detention the previous day.
Their arrival capped off a weeklong push to bring the workers home after their detention in last Thursday’s raid at an electric car battery plant construction site co-run by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County.
As the workers entered the arrival hall, the airport erupted in applause and cheers. Once they arrived at a waiting area for family members, a woman who had been waiting shouted “honey!” before embracing her husband.
One of the workers told reporters that it felt good to be home, while there was a nod to questions about their health.
Family members had been anxiously waiting for the workers at the airport.
“It felt like my world was collapsing,” the wife of an LG Energy Solution worker recounted. “We worried so much over the past week, and I am overwhelmed that he is returning home safely.”
Lee said her husband went to the United States for a work trip on a B-1 visa in July and had been originally scheduled to return home on Thursday.
“When I first heard the news, my heart sank,” she said. “He went through all sorts of hardship before the situation blew up in the final week ahead of his return home.”
Seventy-four-year-old Lee Sang-hee was also waiting for her 44-year-old son, an employee at a subcontractor company.
“I thought that he would only go through simple questioning, but when I saw on TV that they went to a detention centre and were shackled, I was taken aback.”
“I am thankful that my son has returned healthy.”
On one side of the arrival hall, a civic group demanding an apology from the US shouted slogans, holding up a satirical banner that depicted US President Donald Trump as an armed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Yonhap news agency reported.
Around 100 police officers were deployed at the airport to maintain order, while additional personnel were mobilised along the routes from the terminal to the parking lot to assist the workers.(Agency)
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