South Korean workers detained in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a Georgia factory arrive at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, on September 12. More than 300 South Koreans were among 475 arrested at a Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution battery joint venture and then released after about a week in detention. Photo by Jeon Heon-kyun/EPA
On the morning when more than 300 Korean workers detained in the United States were preparing to return to Seoul, one cartoon in a Korean newspaper drew particular attention.
Titled “After the Bus Has Left,” it portrayed President Donald Trump gazing at a bus carrying the detained Korean specialists, muttering wistfully, “Why not just stay? You’ll be back soon, won’t you, ally?” At his feet, the handcuffs once placed on the workers lay scattered on the ground.
If the cartoon was metaphor, Trump’s own words a few days later on Truth Social were strikingly direct. His message distilled into two points: He does not want to discourage foreign corporate investment and he welcomes foreign skilled labor.
He made no explicit reference to the recent detentions at the Hyundai-LG Energy Solution joint battery plant in Georgia, but the timing made the connection clear. For a president who has long pushed aggressive crackdowns on illegal immigration, his post revealed an important distinction: He would not allow “MAGA” hardliners to undermine America’s industrial revival by treating essential specialists as deportable aliens.
Trump put the matter bluntly. “There are countless products — chips, semiconductors, computers, ships, trains — that we need to learn to make again, or once did well but no longer do,” he wrote.
“We used to build one ship a day. Now we can barely manage one a year.” He added: “We will learn from them, and soon we will surpass them in their own fields.”
In fact, Trump’s thinking was evident from the outset of the Georgia incident. ICE had insisted that the detained Koreans be cuffed, denied restroom stops and taken to the airport by prison bus.
Trump personally intervened, overruling those demands. He accepted Seoul’s request to allow the workers to travel on an LG-provided charter bus equipped with restrooms, and he forbade the use of handcuffs.
For ICE, it was a humiliating climbdown. That the American president involved himself in such seemingly trivial details may appear extraordinary. Yet, in doing so, Trump was already signaling the commitments he would later make explicit: to protect investment and welcome skilled labor. No wonder a Korean newspaper imagined him pleading with the departing bus to return.
Now, Korea must respond. That is the trust built through the recent U.S.-Korea summit, and on that trust Seoul should answer Trump’s appeal. The method is clear and already agreed upon in principle: transplant Korea’s advanced system of vocational training directly into the United States.
Korea’s shipbuilding sector — long the envy of the world — offers the model. Each major shipyard operates its own training institute, serving as a pipeline of skilled labor. Workers are trained in welding, pipefitting and hull assembly, and then mentored by veterans on-site until they can work independently.
The government has gone further, funding sites such as the “Shipbuilding Artificial Intelligence Convergence Center,” which integrates AI with traditional skills. Such programs not only cover specialized welding and assembly, but also prepare workers for emerging technologies.
This system has already begun to attract American attention. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering entered the U.S. market a year ago, operating the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia. Its training facilities, already partially active, have been lauded by high-level visitors.
In August, Navy Secretary John Phelan and White House budget director Russell Vought toured the shipyard and expressed admiration for the structured curriculum. Courses include essential skills: CO₂ welding, semi-automatic gas cutting, blueprint reading and marking, material arrangement, and tool management. These disciplines, routine in Korea, remain unfamiliar to most American workers.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries maintains an even broader set of programs. At its Ulsan technical institute, courses range from ship-mobility welding, pipework, electrical systems and engine assembly to safety and signaling. Graduates are trained as specialized technicians, immediately deployable to production lines.
The same approach is visible in other sectors. LG Energy Solution, stung by the Georgia debacle, has already launched a new training center in Arizona alongside its cylindrical battery plant to cultivate local talent. Hyundai Motor Group has operated a vocational institute since 1993, recently rebranded as an “Industrial Transition Training Center” to prepare workers for the shift to eco-friendly vehicles.
If such training centers are transplanted to the United States, federal and state governments must provide active support. Chief among the requirements is visas. The Georgia crackdown exposed the vulnerability: Without a secure legal pathway, essential personnel for plant construction and operation remain at risk.
The precedent is clear. Free trade agreements with Canada, Mexico, Singapore and Chile all included visa allocations for critical workers. Korea’s trade arrangements with Washington must do the same. Otherwise, skilled professionals will simply hesitate to work in America, no matter how urgent the need.
Trump has made his appeal plain. He wants investment preserved and expertise welcomed. For America’s reindustrialization to succeed, Washington must now shoulder the responsibility.
Nohsok Choi is the former chief Editor of the Kyunghyang Shinmun and former Paris correspondent. He currently serves as president of the Kyunghyang Shinmun Alumni Association, president of the Korean Media & Culture Forum and CEO of the YouTube channel One World TV.
