September 24, 2025
SEOUL – President Lee Jae Myung on Monday emphasized that mass detention of South Korean nationals in the United States should never happen again, drawing support from US lawmakers for efforts to improve visa policies.
Lee met with four US lawmakers — Reps. Young Kim and Gregory Meeks, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Coons — during his trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, a first for the president since his inauguration in June.
The meeting comes after a surprise immigration crackdown earlier in September at a battery plant construction site in Georgia, where 316 South Korean workers were detained for a week before returning home on Sept. 12.
The lawmakers also expressed anticipation for the US Congress to pass a bill creating a new visa category that would allot 15,000 high-skilled visas for South Korean nationals, if Seoul and Washington seek ways to improve the visa system, according to the presidential office. Lee earlier said Seoul and Washington were in discussions over US visa quotas for South Korean workers.
Should the Partner with Korea Act pass, some 15,000 E-4 visas would be newly allotted to South Koreans who received specialized education or expertise. Currently, E-4 visas are not available to South Koreans.
As the legislative progress of the bill remained stalled since its introduction, US visa uncertainties grew for South Koreans in part due to the Georgia immigration crackdown.
Lee said in a Sept. 11 press conference that the detained workers had little choice but to enter the country on B-1 visas or through visa waivers for temporary business visits.
The South Korean leader also told the US lawmakers that ongoing tariff negotiations could create volatility in South Korea’s foreign exchange market but said he believed both sides would ultimately reach solutions that are “commercially reasonable,” according to his office. In an interview with Reuters, he added that a $350 billion investment pledge would not be feasible without financial mechanisms such as a currency swap arrangement.
On North Korea, Lee welcomed the US’s role as a “peacemaker” on the Korean Peninsula and reaffirmed his commitment to act as a “pacemaker” to support US President Donald Trump’s talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the pursuit of lasting peace.
The lawmakers expressed congressional backing for Lee’s efforts to address the North Korean nuclear issue and promote stability on the peninsula. They also pledged support for strengthening industrial and technological cooperation in areas including shipbuilding, biotechnology and defense, the presidential office said.
Later on Monday, Lee met some 300 overseas Koreans in New York and pledged to bolster South Korea’s global standing by seeking a redress from his predecessor’s invocation of martial law in December.
“It is time to return to normalcy and take off once again,” Lee said during the meeting. “I will build a Republic of Korea in which overseas Koreans — living not only on our soil but across the world — can proudly and confidently say they are citizens of Korea.”
Lee noted that few nations emerging from colonial rule have achieved both industrial growth and democratic governance.
“Though the world was briefly concerned, Korea has returned as an exemplary democracy, a cultural powerhouse, and a strong nation both militarily and economically,” Lee said.
The president also reaffirmed his push to ease restrictions on overseas Koreans who want to exercise their right to vote.
At the meeting with some 300 Koreans, Lee pledged to improve the current voting system, as voting for overseas Koreans often involves long trips to designated polling stations.
“From those who spent two days and a night voting to those who paid hundreds of dollars for a flight ticket and flew for hours to vote, and those who gave up voting because they couldn’t, there were so many people who felt frustrated to learn that they could not exercise their power as citizens,” Lee said.
“I will certainly improve the voting system so that citizens, including overseas Koreans, can properly exercise their power as South Korean citizens regardless of where they are in the world.”
His remarks followed a recent confirmation of a five-year blueprint that called for revision of the Referendum Act to ensure legal clarity on the issue. A Constitutional Court ruling in 2014 found it unconstitutional to prevent overseas Koreans from voting in a referendum if they failed to file residence reports at home and register themselves as voters.
The Lee administration has floated a constitutional amendment concerning the presidential term limit, with the possibility of holding a referendum — required for an amendment — in 2026 or 2028.
Lee met with Koreans in New York a day before he was to address the United Nations General Assembly. He was expected to speak on the return of democracy in South Korea and outline his government’s foreign policy priorities.
On Wednesday, he is scheduled to preside over an open debate of the UN Security Council. Lee is the first South Korean president to chair such a session. South Korea currently holds the council’s rotating chairmanship as a nonpermanent member.
