Category: Korea-General Topics

If Korean tech companies wants to bring their workers into American to work it is going to cost a whole lot more:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation to impose a yearly fee of US$100,000 for an H-1B nonimmigrant visa application for a highly skilled foreign worker, as his administration seeks to ensure tech firms help train Americans rather than bringing in foreign workers.

The fee is expected to put a burden on Korean companies that need to bring their skilled workers into the United States on a stable visa program to set up and run factories in the U.S. to proceed with their investment projects.

The current fee for the H-1B visa is $1,000. The visa is meant for skilled professionals, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, with its program subject to an annual worldwide cap of 85,000 visas.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick elaborated on the fee for an H-1B visa — a three-year visa with one renewal that could last a total of six years — as he called for tech companies to train Americans and stop bringing in foreign workers to take American jobs.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the new fee is going to make foreign companies think long and hard about whether or not it is affordable to bring in foreign workers on a H1B visa or train an American to do the job.

It seems like anytime a famous person gets in trouble they make sure to check themselves into a hospital and be seen in a wheelchair:

Former first lady Kim Keon Hee, who has been in custody since June, was seen in public this week for the first time since her arrest, arriving at a hospital in Seoul in a wheelchair with an electronic ankle monitor strapped to her left leg.

In a report by cable network MBN, Kim was seen Thursday in the standard blue detainee uniform, wearing a mask and glasses, as she was escorted through hospital corridors. Her hands, presumably cuffed, were hidden beneath a blanket.

She reportedly was granted the medical visit after suffering from acute hypotension, or a sudden drop in blood pressure.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I have seen Koreans who are college graduates agree to do longer military service by becoming officers just to have better working conditions compared to just being a standard draftee. Being an officer though requires long military service of 39 months compared to the 18 months of a draftee:

Lee Jee-ho, the only son of Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong, began his mandatory military service Monday as a Navy officer candidate.

The 24-year-old, who was born in the United States in 2000, entered the Jinhae Naval Base Command in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, in the afternoon, accompanied by family. His enlistment follows last week’s announcement that he would renounce his US citizenship and fulfill his compulsory service obligations.

Lee will undergo an 11-week training program before being commissioned as an ensign on Dec. 1. He is slated to serve 39 months.

South Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve in the military for at least 18 months.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but good on Lee’s son for agreeing to complete his mandatory military service. With him being an American citizen could have avoided military service all together, but still decided to do it.

I read this article about supposed human rights violations of the Hyundai workers expecting something horrible and yet the worst thing that happened was they had to share four toilets and two urinals with 72 other people. This guy likely conducted his mandatory service in the ROK military where the conditions are very similar:

A South Korean worker who returned home after days of detention in a U.S. immigration raid has recounted details of human rights violations, saying U.S. agents laughed at the worker in a scornful manner during interrogation, among other inhumane treatment.

The worker, who declined to be identified, shared a personal log of the ordeal with Yonhap News Agency after returning home Friday along with 329 others, including 14 foreigners, who had been arrested in the raid at the site jointly run by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution on Sept. 4.

The worker managed to record the ordeal during detention by secretly taking pen and paper provided to them to fill out documents.

Yonhap

You can read the rest at the link, but this guy was really offended about some ICE agent making a “Rocket Man” joke he didn’t even understand.

I can’t argue with anything Lutnick is saying. America wants your business just enter the country the right way because the Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that he had told Hyundai Motor Group to get the “right visa” and call him if it has visa problems, as he commented on its workers who were arrested in last week’s immigration raid at a Georgia battery plant construction site.

He made the remarks in an Axios interview, as 316 Korean workers headed back home in the morning following their release from a detention center in Folkston, Georgia, a week after their arrest in the raid at the site run by a joint Hyundai-LG Energy Solution venture in Bryan County near Savannah.

“I called up the Koreans, I said, oh, give me a break. Get the right visa and if you’re having problems getting the right visa, call me. I’ll call (Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem,” he said during his appearance on the “Axios Show.”

“We’ll help you get the right visa, but don’t do it the wrong way. You can’t do things the old way. Donald Trump requires you to do it correctly,” he added.

The secretary said that the Korean workers detained in the raid came to the U.S. on tourist visas, emphasizing that Hyundai should have gotten them the “proper visa.”

“Hyundai is a total grown-up, more than capable of getting them the proper visa,” he said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The return of the detained Koreans is now complete:

A total of 316 Korean workers who were detained in a recent U.S. immigration crackdown headed back home aboard a chartered plane Thursday, in a voluntary yet bitter departure amid renewed questions in Seoul over U.S. credibility as a reliable ally.

The Korean Air plane carrying them and 14 non-Korean nationals took off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta at noon, a week after their arrest in the raid at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site for a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County, Georgia.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this immigration crackdown is ultimately going to be a good thing for Korean businesses. First of all the U.S. government saying these detained workers will not be disadvantaged from receiving a proper work visa in the future.

Secondly the U.S. government is going to set up a working group to expand employee visas for Korean businesses operating in the U.S. It appears that these businesses have been able to skirt immigration laws for so long there was never an urgency to get the situation fixed. Now due to enforcement there is an urgency to fix the problem which in the long run is good for Korean businesses.

Google Maps may work in the future in Korea:

Google has reaffirmed its willingness to comply with South Korea’s stringent national security protocols as it seeks government approval to export high-precision map data — a highly sensitive issue that has sparked public and political debate in recent months.

At a rare press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday, Cris Turner, vice president of government affairs and public policy at Google, underscored the company’s readiness to accommodate the Korean government’s requirements, including the removal of sensitive geospatial details.

“We’ve been in close communication with the Korean government to understand and address their concerns,” Turner said. “(As part of our commitment,) We will remove latitude and longitude coordinates for places in Korea.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the detained Koreans in Georgia are going to be held a little while longer:

The planned departure of hundreds of Korean workers detained in Georgia during an immigration raid has been delayed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Wednesday, due to “a cause from the U.S. side.”

It did not explain what the cause was, raising concerns that their detention could be extended.

The ministry said in a message to reporters that the plane’s departure, which was initially planned for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday (local time) from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, was postponed, without stating a new departure time.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

So does this mean 6 in 10 Koreans would not mind 400 people from a foreign country showing up and constructing a building in Seoul on improper visas?:

A majority of Koreans said they were disappointed in the U.S. government following the recent mass detention of Korean workers at a battery plant in Georgia, a poll showed Tuesday.

According to a survey of more than 500 adults recently conducted by Realmeter, 59.2 percent of respondents said they view the immigration crackdown on Hyundai Motor Group-LG Energy Solution’s factory site as “excessive” and expressed disappointment with the Donald Trump administration’s actions. Only 30.7 found the measures “understandable and inevitable.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.