Overview

• South Korea says 316 citizens were released for voluntary departure and are being transported to Atlanta for a Korean Air charter flight, with arrival expected Friday in Seoul.
• U.S. authorities detained about 475 workers at the Hyundai–LG battery-plant construction site last week, most of them South Korean nationals.
• President Donald Trump defended the operation and asked that detainees be encouraged to remain to train American workers, and South Korean officials say only one accepted after a one-day delay to the flight.
• An immigration lawyer representing detainees says many held ESTA or B1 entries with letters authorizing specific tasks, a claim Reuters could not independently verify.
• Hyundai and LG postponed the plant’s start, and Seoul reports Washington agreed to a joint working group to address visa categories as President Lee Jae Myung warned of potential investment pullback.