How Do You Say “BFD” In Korean?

Trump: Almost 17 trillion dollars will be invested in this country over the next few months pic.twitter.com/KyxhlQeMTQ

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 6, 2025

Yeah; about that..send lawyers, guns, and money. The shit has hit the fan.

1/ Something that's not being reported much re: ICE crackdown at Hyundai-LG Georgia battery factory: Korean companies investing billions cannot get proper visas, are then criminalised for bringing skilled workers to fill gaps American labour cannot.

Sentiment is one of betrayal. https://t.co/r3q1mZrMvA

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

3/ One of the core issues is that S. Korea has no country-reserved work visa. By contrast, Australia for instance gets E-3 (10,500/year) and Singapore/Chile get H-1B1 (5,400/1,400). Korea has neither, despite FTA status and massive investment commitments. https://t.co/wi9p4E6xyO

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

5/ Then there's the cap on the highly competitive H-1B of 85,000 total (65k regular + 20k US master's). No per-country quotas. Processing takes months. Many construction trades don't qualify as "specialty occupations" requiring degrees. pic.twitter.com/8Jj2Ae0wHW

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

7/ Crackdown is clearly to increase American employment. Chosun Ilbo quotes a Korean construction official: "It's impossible to meet construction deadlines with only Americans. We have no choice but to urgently dispatch our technicians to solve problems." https://t.co/UzwPhnPLom

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

9/ News1 reports the practical problem: "To send skilled experts on H-1B visas takes months, but construction sites need personnel constantly. We have no choice but to rely on short-term visas like ESTA." https://t.co/JScKg0LKre

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

11/ This isn't new. In 2020, SK Innovation faced identical issues: 33 Koreans expelled at Atlanta airport, 13 more arrested later for ESTA violations at Georgia battery plant. Korean companies say the visa system creates recurring impossible situations. https://t.co/5eaRLPQTZd

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

13/ This is all happening right after President Lee Jae Myung's meeting with Trump the other day and Korean firms pledging $150bn in US investments on top of the country's earlier pledge to invest $350bn. https://t.co/1qslEneHTt

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

15/ One executive reportedly said, "It's not that we're trying to steal American jobs, but that we want to quickly build factories to hire locally, yet the reward for such efforts is being treated as 'illegal immigrants', it's deflating."https://t.co/UzwPhnPLom

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

17/ South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered all-out efforts to respond to the arrest. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun says he's willing to travel to Washington personally if necessary, expressing "heavy responsibility" over the arrests. https://t.co/IPyD0sR48k

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

19/ Finally, perhaps a small disclaimer: This thread is not to assess the specific visa status or legal situation of those detained, but rather to highlight the broader structural/systematic issues that have frustrated Korean companies for years.

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 6, 2025

This is not a tempest in a teacup.

1/ S. Korea's entire media establishment across political spectrum has united in unprecedented editorial consensus expressing profound betrayal, outrage, national humiliation, and fundamental breach of US-ROK alliance re: mass arrest of Korean workers at Hyundai's Georgia plant. https://t.co/Tgywza18tb

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

3/ Chosun Ilbo (flagship conservative): Scathing language calling this a "merciless arrest operation" that represents something "that cannot happen between allies" and a "breach of trust." Notes Trump personally thanked Hyundai's chairman just months ago. https://t.co/sIrHeWfBvM

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

5/ Dong-A Ilbo (conservative): Delivers perhaps the most damning question in its headline: "How are we supposed to build factories?" while noting Korea was "specifically targeted" and describing this as "shocking" behaviour between allies. https://t.co/6ITeXDGX2W

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

7/ JoongAng Ilbo (conservative): Calls this an incident that "shook the values and trust of the ROK-US alliance" occurring at the very "site of economic alliance." Describes public being "appalled" at seeing Koreans dragged away in chains and cable ties. https://t.co/0i6r753rL9

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

9/ Korea Economic Daily (business): Headlines this as an "absurd arrest of Koreans" incident. "It is hard to understand in terms of common sense why quotas for visas are given to Australia, Singapore and Chile, but not a single visa to Korea." https://t.co/s0KFAu97oA

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

11/ Maeil Business Newspaper: Uses headline: "When they told us to build factories, that was one thing... US arrests 300 Korean workers." Calls situation "shocking" and "absurd", notes you cannot supervise trillion-won investments without Korean personnel. https://t.co/Ni0r87aZ1i

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

13/ Seoul Economic Daily (business): Calls this "shocking". "Our citizens' rights must never be violated again," describes the arrest footage as "horrifying". Uses particularly strong language, that the Korean workers were treated like "prisoners of war." https://t.co/M7zPLBTDbT

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

15/ Hankook Ilbo (centrist-conservative): Korean companies "ended up looking like they got hit from behind," warns this threatens "trust between allies" and calls for fundamental visa system reform. https://t.co/ZBCQye42X1

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

17/ Hankyoreh (progressive): Most direct in questioning alliance fundamentals with headline "Is this what you do to an ally?". Describes Koreans feeling "backstabbed" after the Lee-Trump meeting at the White House and accuses US of "duplicitous behaviour." https://t.co/XJzXkgKW0V

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

19/ Korea has deep historical memory of being humiliated by foreign powers and the visuals of Koreans in chains being paraded by a foreign power triggers collective memories of subjugation that go beyond this just being "unfair".

This is public humiliation of the nation itself.

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 8, 2025

Reporter: Do you have plans to go to Japan and South Korea this fall?

Trump: What does that mean? pic.twitter.com/idHw5HIszF

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 7, 2025