More than 300 Korean workers start legal action over last year's Georgia raid

More than 300 Korean workers start legal action over last year's Georgia raid

More than 300 Korean workers detained in last year's Georgia battery-plant raid began filing damage claims against the US government on September 15.

Why this matters. These are people who flew in on business visas to install equipment. They are testing whether a foreign worker gets anything back after an immigration sweep. Many of them are already back on US sites doing the same job.

What changed. The filings are administrative claims, the step US law requires before anyone can sue a federal agency. They are going to nine agencies, including Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Departments of Justice and Labor, per CNN. The workers are represented by a Korean attorney practicing in Georgia who asked not to be named.

Worth knowing. Agents raided the Hyundai and LG Energy Solution battery plant site in Ellabell, Georgia on September 4 last year and detained 475 workers, more than 300 of them Korean, per Kyunghyang Shinmun. The search warrant CNN obtained named four targets. None of them was a Korean worker. Workers say they were arrested with no explanation and no interpreters, shackled, and handed forms they could not read.

The last time. Postville, Iowa, May 12, 2008. Federal agents arrested 389 workers at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in a town of 2,200 people, then the largest immigration raid in US history, per America Magazine. Prosecutors brought criminal document charges rather than immigration ones. Most of those arrested pleaded guilty, served five months, and were deported to Guatemala or Mexico. Ellabell took 475 people off one site.

What's next. The lawyer told CNN she aims to have all the claims filed by the end of 2026. If an agency does not answer a claim within six months, that worker can take it to federal court. That puts the earliest lawsuits in 2027.

Korea This Week

Lee Jae-myung says he will not seek a second term

Lee Jae-myung ruled out a second term on September 18, closing a question that had been open since late July.

What changed. "Let me state this firmly once again: I have absolutely no intention of seeking re-election," he said at a 100-minute press conference at the Blue House (청와대), per Korea JoongAng Daily. The debate started on July 28, when National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik said a consecutive-term amendment was ultimately a matter for the public. Lee still wants the constitution rewritten, including a consecutive-term presidency for a future president, per Kyunghyang Shinmun.

Worth knowing. He asked the National Assembly to delete the prosecution-withdrawal clause (공소취소) from the special counsel bill and to stick to establishing the facts, per Financial News. On the Strait of Hormuz he was blunt: no troops and no military assets in any deployment that pulls Korea into a war.

What's next. The clause now sits with the Assembly, with no vote date reported. Lee took the blame for his falling approval, saying the public's disappointment came "entirely from my own shortcomings."

Yong Hye-in withdraws as Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee

Yong Hye-in, a proportional-representation lawmaker for the Basic Income Party, withdrew on September 13, 14 days after she was nominated.

What changed. The fight was over holding an Assembly seat and a cabinet post at the same time (겸직). Three days earlier she had defended the arrangement at a press conference, saying the law allows a lawmaker to serve as a state councillor, per Hankook Ilbo.

Worth knowing. She said the Democratic Party of Korea told her the public was not broadly behind the dual role and asked her to decide for herself. She could not realistically do the job, she said, with the ruling Democratic Party voicing concern about it. She also said the People Power Party had refused to set a date for her confirmation hearing.

Korean shares now trade until 8pm

The Korea Exchange (한국거래소) opened an after-market (애프터마켓) on September 14, four hours of trading after the regular session closes.

What changed. The old after-hours window ran 4pm to 6pm and matched orders at a single price. The new one runs 4pm to 8pm and matches buy and sell orders in real time, the same way the regular session does, per Kukinews. Those old matches ran in 10-minute batches, per Dailian. Shares and depositary receipts listed on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and KOSDAQ, Korea's two stock markets, are eligible. Exchange-traded funds and notes are excluded to keep volatility down.

Worth knowing. This is the first change to Korean trading hours since August 2016. The daily price limit stays at 30 percent up or down and the volatility brake still applies. A morning pre-market is set for the end of next year, and the exchange says it is building toward round-the-clock trading in stages, per Dailian.

The college application system failed ten minutes before the deadline

The system taking 2027 early-admission (수시) applications went down at about 5:50pm on September 11, ten minutes before the 6pm cutoff.

What changed. Uway Apply (유웨이어플라이), the contractor that handles applications for 56 universities, hit a server error, and students could not save applications or pay fees. The deadline was pushed to 7pm. Chief executive Sung Yoon-seok apologized on September 14, per Asia Business Daily.

The numbers. The counts circulating do not agree.

• The Education Ministry estimated about 1,200 students were logged in when it failed and had not finished by the extended 7pm deadline, per Hankook Ilbo on September 14.
• As of 6pm on September 16, 1,588 relief applications had come in and 1,400 had been reviewed. Of those, 388 people were recognized as affected and 250 had filed with a university, an interim count per Kookmin Ilbo.

One complication. Seventeen universities published their final competition ratios at the original 6pm deadline, so anyone applying in the extra hour could see them first. The ministry is weighing whether to cancel applications filed at those 17 schools during the extension.

What's next. A special inspection team is inside Uway Apply until September 23, and the ministry says it is looking at moving application intake to a public system.

KEPCO asked Samsung and SK Hynix to prepay ₩25 trillion. Both said no

Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) asked the two chipmakers to pay five years of electricity charges up front. Both turned it down.

What changed. KEPCO sent the proposal on July 9: about ₩20 trillion from Samsung Electronics and ₩5 trillion from SK Hynix, based on what each paid last year, with the money going first into national grid construction for advanced industrial complexes, per Chosun Ilbo. Samsung told KEPCO on September 9 it could not take part. Both had declined by September 11, per Financial News.

Worth knowing. Neither company would bet that the chip upcycle holds for five years, per Chosun Ilbo. KEPCO had offered interest above the two-year treasury rate and monthly instalments over a year.

One complication. KEPCO carried ₩210.7 trillion of debt at the end of June, with daily interest of about ₩11.5 billion, per Financial News. The government exemption that lets it issue bonds up to five times its capital and reserves runs out at the end of next year, and the grid still has to be built.

The last surviving general of the 1979 coup died without apologizing

Chung Ho-yong, a former defense minister, died on September 13 at 94. He was the last of five officers at the center of the 1979 military mutiny and the 1980 Gwangju crackdown.

Catch up. On December 12, 1979, army officers seized the military. They are called the new military authorities (신군부). Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, both later presidents, were in that circle of five with Chung, per Seoul Shinmun. In May 1980, special forces went into Gwangju to crush a civilian uprising, the May 18 Democratization Movement (5·18 광주민주화운동). Chung was named Special Warfare Command commander the day after the mutiny. He still held the job when those units went in.

What changed. He later became army chief of staff, then interior minister and defense minister in 1987. In 1997 a seven-year sentence for the mutiny and the Gwangju crackdown became final.

Worth knowing. He denied responsibility to the end. In 2021 he filed an opinion with the 5·18 truth commission saying the crackdown had nothing to do with him, per Hankyoreh. Yang Jae-hyuk, who heads the 5·18 bereaved families' association, said his death does not bury what was done.

Watch This Week

• Wednesday September 23. The Education Ministry's special inspection team finishes its on-site review of Uway Apply, per Kookmin Ilbo. The findings feed the decision on whether university application intake moves to a public system.
• Thursday September 24 to Saturday September 26. Chuseok (추석). The holiday itself is Friday the 25th. There is no Monday substitute holiday this year, because the three days overlap a Saturday rather than a Sunday, per Maeil Business. Banks, government offices and post offices close all three days, so anything needing a bank branch, a community service center (주민센터) or a government counter has to clear by Wednesday the 23rd.

Korea Decoded

When half the country leaves town for Chuseok (추석)

Chuseok 2026 falls on Friday, September 25. The three-day holiday runs September 24 to 26.

Worth knowing. Tens of millions of Koreans, over half the population, leave their home regions on the peak days. KTX tickets sell out within minutes of release. Charye (차례), the morning ancestral rite, is declining. Fewer than half of households still perform it, down from a clear majority a decade ago. During the holiday, Korea's anti-graft law (김영란법) caps gifts of agricultural, livestock, or fishery products to public officials at 300,000 won. The usual cap is 150,000 won. For colleagues, a mid-range fruit box or a Spam set is the safe default. See Seoulstart's lunar holidays guide.

Festivals worth checking out

• September 26 to 28. Siheung Gaetgol Wetland Festival (시흥갯골축제): reed-field walks and a salt-making demonstration at Siheung Gaetgol Eco Park, Gyeonggi's only inland tidal wetland. It overlaps the last day of Chuseok, so skip the car. Take Line 4 to Jeongwang Station, then a short bus. The visitor center has English-language interpretation.
• Opens October 1. Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) (부산국제영화제): ten days at the Busan Cinema Center in Centum City. Outdoor screenings on Haeundae Beach. Many films have English subtitles. The booking site lets you filter for them. Tickets open in late September.
• Also running this Chuseok week. Andong Mask Dance Festival (안동국제탈춤페스티벌) opens September 25, Chuseok day. Highways to the regions crawl. KTX tickets sell out. Book a seat from Cheongnyangni before you go. The train is about two hours. Bupyeong Pungmul Festival (부평풍물대축제), Incheon, September 26 to 28. Suwon Hwaseong Cultural Festival (수원화성문화제), Suwon, September 27 to October 4. Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레), Gwangju, through November 15.

See the full festivals calendar for what's running across the country.

Good Reads

• Seoul Shinmun. "North Korean nuclear tests moved a dormant fault under Mount Mantap." Kim Kwang-hee's team at Pusan National University, working with Chengdu University of Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Earthquake Administration and Shandong University, read 17 years of seismic records. Quakes kept coming along two fault zones for years after the 2017 test. At the Nevada and Semipalatinsk sites they faded within weeks. (link)

• Seoulstart. "What's Open During Chuseok and Seollal in Korea (and Where Residents Go)." For Chuseok, banks, government offices, and post offices close September 24 to 26. Convenience stores (편의점) run 24 hours throughout the holiday. The E-Gen portal (e-gen.or.kr) is the fastest way to find an open pharmacy or clinic on a holiday day.

• Hankook Ilbo. "Who qualifies for relief after the application system outage, and what cannot be changed." A student whose server log shows they were filling in or paying for an application before 5:50pm can apply. Anyone who rushed to a fallback university on the rival platform can cancel that and switch back. Nobody can change the department they originally applied to. (link)

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New on Seoulstart this week

• Jobs board: every list now uses the same ranking and numbered pages, so results stay in one order whether you are browsing all jobs, saved roles, or matches.

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That's Seoulstart Korea Weekly for this week. See you next week.