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.
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.
This week is the 75th anniversary of the Incheon Landing Operation that turned the tide of the Korean War. With the Lee administration trying to play nice with North Korea, it will be interesting to see how visibly ROK government officials will attend official events commemorating the Incheon Landing.
You can read more about the Incheon Landing Operation at my prior postings at the below links:
For anyone visiting Incheon the memorial hall there dedicated to the landing is well worth checking out as well:
Long time ROK Heads may remember how in 2005 huge riots broke out in Incheon as ROK veterans groups defended the MacArthur statue in Incheon commemorating Operation Chromite from the anti-US groups that had vowed to tear it down.
Fortunately the anti-US groups failed to tear down the statue after their Braveheart style attack was foiled by police and pro-US groups. For those that haven’t been there before Jayu Park in Incheon where the MacArthur statue stands is well worth checking out as well as taking a walk through Chinatown below the hill. Hopefully you don’t run into any anti-US leftists this week if visiting the park.
Apparently Chinese companies are worried that graduates from U.S. universities may be spies:
For Chinese students, a degree from a US university was once considered a “golden ticket” to coveted jobs back home. But many are now finding that geopolitics is blunting their ambitions.
The Trump administration’s threat of visa cancellations – later shelved after a trade-truce phone call between the US president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in early June – has compounded already swirling uncertainty for Chinese students in the US.
And at home, some graduates are finding their experience abroad is raising red flags with employers, who are increasingly casting a suspicious eye over graduates trained at foreign universities worldwide.
With their parents footing the hefty bill, some Chinese students are asking if studying abroad is now worth it, especially when the domestic jobs market seems to be favoring homegrown talent. (……..)
In late April, Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of China’s home appliances giant Gree Electric told a shareholder meeting that the company “will never use any returnees because there could be spies among them” – a comment criticized on social media and state media for “stigmatizing” and “stereotyping” the returning cohort.
The “spy suspicion” – a paranoia usually found in state-backed firms – is especially jarring coming from a prominent private business leader. And it adds insult to injury for Chinese overseas graduates like Lian, who say they already feel unwelcome in China’s public sector.
You can read more at the link, but if Chinese employers are considering these graduates a security risk than why shouldn’t U.S. employers as well?
Kim Yo-jong is upset because the US-ROK militaries plan to conduct what is essentially a video game military exercise together:
The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday blasted a planned joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States, warning the “reckless muscle-flexing” would bring unfavorable consequences.
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the North Korean ruling party’s Central Committee, issued the warning in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The allies are set to stage the Iron Mace tabletop military exercise from Monday to Friday at the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, focusing on integrating Washington’s nuclear assets and Seoul’s conventional capabilities to deter North Korean threats.
Kim reiterated her criticism of the allies’ nuclear deterrence plan, saying North Korea would regard the exercise as a “display” and continuation of a confrontational stance by the “current rulers” if it is staged with their full understanding of the dangers.
You can read more at the link, but she will be brought out to condemn every US-ROK exercise because the Kim regime thinks with the Lee administration in power they can get him to advocate for cancelling them for little or nothing in return.
The Lee administration is still playing the victim card over the detainment of the South Korean illegal immmigrants and the State Department is playing right into this narrative:
A senior U.S. state department official on Sunday expressed regrets over the recent mass detention of South Korean workers in America and vowed to prevent similar occurrences.
Christopher Landau, deputy secretary of state, visited Seoul for a meeting with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo.
According to Seoul’s foreign ministry, Landau conveyed his deep regrets over the detention of hundreds of South Korean workers in an immigration crackdown earlier this month at an electric vehicle battery plant construction site for a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Bryan County, Georgia. A total of 316 South Korean workers returned home Friday, after being held in a detention center for a week.
Landau also said U.S. President Donald Trump has a keen interest in the matter and ensured that those who have returned home will not face any disadvantages when reentering the United States. The state department official said Washington would try to ensure there would be no further incidents of a similar nature in the future.
Landau proposed working-level talks on issuing proper visas for South Korean workers in the U.S., citing a need to provide institutional support for South Korean corporations’ investments that contribute to the American economy and manufacturing.
In response, Park touched upon inconveniences that South Korean workers faced while in detention and said the general public in South Korea, in addition to the workers themselves, felt deeply shocked by the crackdown.
According to the ministry, Park also strongly urged the U.S. to take practical steps and implement systematic improvements to ease South Korean people’s concerns.
You can read more at the link, but the message Landau should have matched what U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick recently said that the U.S. wants Korean business, just come in on a proper visa. If you are having problems let us know and we will resolve it. Instead this “regret” wording just feeds into the victim narrative the Lee administration is promoting.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
