Amid South Korean fury over Hyundai raid, Trump says foreign workers "welcome" - National & International News - MON 15Sep2025 -

Amid South Korean backlash over Hyundai raid, Trump says foreign workers “welcome”.

Alarm in Europe as Ukraine’s NATO neighbors respond to air incursions by Russia.

Amid South Korean backlash over Hyundai raid, Trump says foreign workers “welcome”

On September 4, a huge ICE-led law enforcement operation arrested 475 people at the site of a Hyundai plant in Georgia. Among the detainees were more than 300 South Korean workers. Images of their countrymen being led away in shackles stunned and angered both the public and politicians in South Korea, one of America’s foremost Asian allies and trading partners. Facing public outrage over the incident, Seoul is now probing whether the US violated their citizens’ human rights during the raid.

It was immediately apparent that the operation would pit Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda against his economic agenda, which is heavily reliant on foreign investment. South Korean firms Hyundai and LG have invested billions into the plant, which is still partly under construction. The plant, which will manufacture batteries and electrical vehicles, was set to open later this year, but now faces at least a 2-3 month delay due to the arrests.

The people ICE arrested were getting the plant’s operations up and running and training American workers. Some of the workers were in the country legally, but most were working under more lax interpretations of special workers’ visas. In the days after the arrest, Trump asked the arrested South Korean workers to stay and train Americans, but nearly all of them chose to return home.

Yesterday, a top US diplomat visited Seoul to express regret over the incident. In a Truth Social post, Trump himself wrote, in part: ” I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies. We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own “game,” sometime into the not too distant future!”.

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Alarm in Europe as Ukraine’s NATO neighbors respond to air incursions by Russia

Last Wednesday, at least 16 Russian drones entered Poland’s airspace and several were shot down by Poland’s air defenses. One drone did extensive damage to a home in a Polish village near the Ukrainian border, possibly after a Polish fighter jet had shot it down. Some of the drones entered deep into Poland’s territory, with a few reaching the vicinity of Warsaw.

According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a “large proportion” of the drones entered Polish territory from Belarus. Belarus is a Russian ally sharing borders with both Ukraine and Poland. Polish authorities suggested that the incursion was Moscow’s way of testing NATO’s reaction without prompting a full-scale response. Germany’s defense minister agreed that it was no accident and declared the incident a “provocation against NATO“.

Then on Saturday, Romania scrambled jets after a Russian drone entered their territory. Like Poland, Romania is a NATO member and shares a border with Ukraine.

Washington’s reaction prompts unease as NATO tensions increase

Poland is now calling to impose a no-fly zone over the parts of Ukrainian territory that are close to NATO borders. Calls for no-fly zones in Ukraine were rejected in 2022 due to fears that the conflict would escalate. Enforcing a no-fly zone with NATO firepower as Poland suggests could bring NATO into direct conflict with Russian forces.

Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said that NATO is already “de facto” involved in the Ukraine war. This has long been Moscow’s position.

This week, Belarus is hosting large-scale joint war games with Russia, adding to the tension. These exercises have not taken place since 2021, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war games were attended by two US military officers serving as observers. Belarus’ defense minister presented their visit as a surprise and shared a video of himself greeting the two officers warmly.

The visit follows efforts by President Trump to improve US relations with Belarus. Last week, Trump lifted some sanctions on Belarus’ national airline in exchange for Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko releasing over 50 political dissidents and journalists who had been imprisoned for years.

These signals from the White House seeking closer relations with Putin and his allies have caused unease across Europe. After the large scale drone incursion last week, President Trump implied that the violations were accidental. European leaders immediately rebuffed this notion.

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