Recently, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a surprise raid on a modern automotive and LG Energy Solution joint battery plant in Georgia, arresting more than 300 South Korean workers suspected of illegal residence and employment, which has caused a major uproar in South Korea. On September 11 local time, the "Hankook Mingin Daily" published an article titled "The Arrogance of an Empire, the Humiliation of South Korea," commenting on this incident.
The article mentioned that although the U.S. immigration authorities arrested and detained over 300 South Korean workers, it seemed to have ended with the workers' voluntary return to South Korea, but in fact, it was far from that. The South Korean public was greatly shocked by the scene of South Korean workers being bound with chains as they were taken to the United States for work under the U.S. "investment attraction" initiative. This incident is sure to leave a deep and hard-to-eliminate resentment.
This incident is undoubtedly a slap in the face, forcing South Korea to see what is actually happening in the United States at present. It must be regarded as a warning, and the institutional loopholes and potential pitfalls in the U.S. investment projects must be promptly addressed; otherwise, the consequences will only become more serious.
The article believes that to understand the essence of the situation, we must re-examine Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement. MAGA is a reactionary trend centered on white people and evangelicals, attempting to pull the United States back to before the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Its core supporters are low-income, low-educated whites and evangelical Christians. Trump exploited the job losses caused by globalization, the worsening wealth gap, and the surge in immigration to voice the anxiety of these groups about their declining social status, inciting them to vent their anger against the established elites and "outsiders" (people of color, undocumented immigrants, Muslims, etc.).
In short, MAGA is a populist form of white racism. More accurately, "Make America Great Again" should be said as "Make American Whites Greater." The reason for the insistence on imposing tariffs as high as 50% on steel and aluminum is because these groups are highly concentrated in the "Rust Belt."
The article points out that the large-scale enforcement operation targeting illegal immigrants at the modern automotive-LG Energy Solution joint battery factory in Georgia should also be understood in this context. The image of South Korean workers being tied with chains and escorted away evokes the memory of African slaves being driven away in the 18th and 19th centuries. Even the U.S. Department of Homeland Security boasted of conducting the largest single-site enforcement operation in history. ICE even openly released videos that may involve human rights violations, as if boasting of so-called "victories."
On the 4th local time, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a South Korean factory and arrested hundreds of people. Screenshot of video
Far-right white people may secretly be happy. Even the Georgia governor and local legislators who had previously actively attracted investments suddenly turned around and echoed anti-immigrant sentiments — because they could not ignore the xenophobic wave among local voters. Irrational fanaticism, like McCarthyism that swept through the United States in the 1950s, once again dominates American society. If the U.S. really considers South Korea an ally, this visa issue could have been communicated in advance through diplomatic channels and resolved properly; however, the U.S. instead launched a showy enforcement operation using helicopters and armored vehicles, which can hardly be explained other than serving political purposes.
The Trump administration's "manufacturing revival" plan is more driven by political calculations than economic logic. Trump rose to power by inciting the dissatisfaction of the white population in the Rust Belt, and naturally has a strong motivation to continue politically exploiting this group. It is not wrong for political leaders to promote the revival of manufacturing, but ultimately, it is mostly just an "ideal." Looking at world history, such attempts rarely succeed. If it were possible to reverse industrial migration, why did the British Empire, the "sun never sets" empire, eventually decline?
The article wrote that sunset industries will eventually shift to developing countries over time. With South Korea's strength, it is difficult to revive sunset industries, let alone the U.S., whose production costs are at least 30% higher than South Korea's, and whose industrial ecosystem has already been shattered after more than two decades of manufacturing hollowing out. Trump tries to use "imperial might" to mobilize allies to reverse historical trends, which is pure fantasy. Worse still, the U.S. treats its allied workers like vassals and servants — under such circumstances, even the grandest blueprints are likely to fail. The U.S.'s actions are truly a case of kicking the bucket.
Learning from this incident, South Korea must conduct a comprehensive review and reassessment of its investment projects in the U.S. During the transition of regimes, we hastily followed Japan's "set chessboard" to push forward the so-called "tariff agreement" under pressure from Trump. Now, we should calmly look back. The U.S. once made absurd demands of Japan: to implement a $550 billion investment during Trump's term and to disburse the funds within 45 days after his order, and to allow the U.S. to capture 50%-90% of the profits. It is said that similar demands are also being made to South Korea.
Mechanically imitating Japan, a "quasi-reserve currency country" and the world's third-largest economy, may not be beneficial for South Korea. Instead of catering to the U.S.'s excessive demands for temporary passage, it is better to clearly define the boundaries of what can and cannot be done, and to argue and persuade the U.S. based on that. Remember: even if the manufacturing revival fails, the impact of the U.S., as the world's largest economy and the issuer of the international reserve currency, may be limited. However, South Korea's economy may suffer a huge impact, or even be shaken.
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