South Korea will examine potential human rights abuses in the US labor raid.

Following the detention of hundreds of its citizens during a US immigration raid, the South Korean government has said that it will begin an investigation to determine whether human rights abuses occurred.

On September 4, approximately 475 individuals, primarily South Koreans, were taken into custody at the Georgia electric vehicle battery factory construction site.

Since US President Donald Trump began a broad immigration crackdown, this raid was the biggest single-site operation ever carried out. South Korea was astonished to see the workers handcuffed and chained, and Seoul responded with a severe reprimand.

The jailed South Korean workers were freed and flew back to Seoul following sensitive diplomatic negotiations. Several of the employees alerted the local media about the terrible circumstances surrounding their detention, including claims that they were detained without being made aware of their legal rights.

The Seoul presidential office responded to inquiries regarding those claims by stating that it was carrying out a “thorough review.” “Both our side and the US are checking if there were any shortcomings in the measures taken and companies are also looking into it,” the presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a press briefing. “Together with the company concerned, we are conducting a more thorough review into possible human rights infringements.”

When they were arrested, one of the employees told Yonhap News Agency that their rights had not been read. The employee also informed the agency that they were upset that Ice officers made fun of them by calling them “North Korea” and “rocket man,” which are derogatory terms Trump has used in the past to refer to Kim Jong-un, the leader of Pyongyang.

Lee Jae Myung, the president of South Korea, described the raid as “bewildering” and warned that it would deter future investment. According to Lee, South Korean businesses “can’t help but wonder whether setting up a plant in the US is worth the potential risks.”

Trump reportedly responded on Sunday by saying that foreign labor were “welcome” and that he didn’t want to frighten investors. “I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize investment,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.