South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Friday stated that the government will seek to resolve the issues encountered by Korean workers on U.S. visas before moving to a $350 billion investment deal, which is one of the bilateral trade agreements.
His statements follow a recent U.S. immigration raid that saw hundreds of South Koreans working at a Hyundai Motor battery plant in the state of Georgia arrested.
Last week, many of the employees went back to South Korea, yet the incident led companies to request a new type of visa to allow Korean skilled workers to assist in the establishment of new plants and train American employees.
The visa policy was not “a precondition” to bring the U.S. investments in strategic U.S. industries, Cho said at the press conference.
Cho emphasized he anticipated that China’s President Xi Jinping would participate in a leaders’ summit during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that is being held in South Korea in late October.
He returned to South Korea this week after a trip to Beijing, where he had meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and he had delivered a message regarding South Korea’s readiness to negotiate cultural cooperation with China during the APEC meetings.
To protest the deployment of a U.S.-led missile shield in South Korea, China has persistently restricted the entry of Korean entertainment media, including K-pop, for almost a decade.
Beijing has argued that the powerful radar offered by the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system would peep into its airspace, which has led to tensions between the two nations.
