The USA continues its foreign policy of alienating long-standing allies, while sucking up to dictators. South Korea is the latest target.
Hyundai has been building a new battery factory in Georgia. It’s due to go into operation next year, so a group of engineers and technicians from South Korea have been on site, setting up the new facility.
No longer. ICE decided to raid the place, arresting everybody for (spurious) visa violations. The South Korean government has managed to secure the release of its citizens and is now, along with Hyundai, considering its options. South Koreans are understandably outraged by this incident, and there will be consequences.
It’s a deliberate provocation, no question, but why are they doing it? Possibly it is part of the trade negotiations, with the USA trying some extortion to help its side. The Leader of the Free World is of course a great friend of Kim Jong-un in the north. He has also expressed antipathy towards the president of South Korea, Lee Jae Myung, particularly since he is soundly democratic and has replaced a despot.
That, as well as simple racism, explains the treatment of a close ally. Beyond this, there is the point that they want everything Made in USA. They want companies to set up factories in the USA. But what companies are going to invest in the country, if this is the way their employees are treated?
What do they hope to achieve?