South Koreans repatriated after U.S. raid on Georgia battery plant

More than 300 South Korean nationals who were detained in a U.S. immigration raid at a Hyundai-LG battery plant in Georgia earlier this month returned to Seoul on a government-chartered flight on Friday, after days in U.S. custody and a diplomatic scramble between Washington and Seoul. The mass detentions on Sept. 4 at the under-construction Ellabell, Georgia, site and subsequent allegations of mistreatment have prompted a South Korean review of possible human rights abuses and raised concerns among companies about investing in U.S. manufacturing projects.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents apprehended a total of about 475 people at the site, including at least 316 South Koreans, according to U.S. and South Korean officials; reports on the precise numbers varied. Under a deal with Seoul, U.S. authorities released 316 Koreans and 14 other Asian nationals from a detention facility in Folkston, Georgia, and allowed them to depart. One South Korean worker chose to remain in the United States, officials said.

Former detainees and a handwritten log obtained by Yonhap News Agency described crowded and unsanitary conditions at the ICE facility, shackling with zip ties and...