Category World News

South Korea has complained about the arrests of hundreds of workers by American immigration officials in Georgia’s state of the state of Georgia.

Following the previous day’s raid, which resulted in the suspension of factory construction, the Seoul-based Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday demanded the respect of the country’s citizens and investors.

The episode highlights the disruptive impact that President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is having on his efforts to entice foreign investment. The state of Georgia is home to the largest foreign investment, Hyundai-LG.

According to Lee Jaewoong, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, “the rights of our nationals and our business activities must not be unfairly violated in the course of US law enforcement.”

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has been strengthened by record funding and increased latitude when Trump took office in January.

The president has stated that he wants to deport “the worst of the worst” criminals. However, ICE data indicate a rise in non-criminal detention.

Although Lee did not specify exactly how many South Koreans were detained, media reports suggested that 300 or more had been taken into custody.

Up to 450 people were detained, according to a post from the US Justice Department agency ATF in Atlanta.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, LG Energy Solution (LGES) and Hyundai Motor Factory employees were among the people being detained.

According to the Reuters and AFP news agencies, about 300 of those are South Korean nationals, citing unnamed sources and South Korean media.

The detainees were being held at an ICE detention facility, according to a South Korean government official.

Lee stated that the ministry is preparing to take proactive steps in the investigation, including sending diplomats to the site from its Washington and Atlanta consulate, and creating a local mission-focused on-site response team.

According to a report released by Belarusian state media on Friday, state security service agents detained the man and discovered documents relating to joint military exercises that were being planned by Belarus and its ally, Russia. Poland has referred to the action as a “provocation” and a “response” and called it “provocation.”

The priest, Grzegorz Gawel, was detained the day before in Lepel, east of Minsk, the city where he had previously been detained. Additionally, a Belarusian national was being held.

The suspect, according to the Polish news agency Belta, has a copy of a document related to the Zapad 25 exercises scheduled for this month. Additionally, he had a portable telephone SIM card registered to someone else and cash in Belarus and other countries.

Because of Belarus’s proximity to three NATO allies, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, the Zapad exercises, which are held every two years in either Belarus or Russia, are watched by Western nations with interest.

According to Belta, the Belarusian state news agency, “there is unquestionable evidence of the Polish citizen’s espionage activities.” He was given a secret military document a few minutes before his arrest. All of this was captured on video.

Belta continued, saying that he had been attempting to get the Belarusian national into his business and gave him money and small presents.

On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared to reporters that Warsaw “will not accept” the nonsense that the Belarusian side has uttered.

Although I’m not certain of the nature of our Jesuit’s trip to Belarus, Tusk claimed that he saw a friend or acquaintance there.

According to a spokesman for X, Polish security forces “do not employ clergymen to gather information about military exercises.”

According to deputy foreign minister Marcin Bosacki, the arrest was likely connected to upcoming military exercises. He promised to respond, but he wouldn’t give specifics.

Relations between Belarus, a Russian ally, and Poland, one of Kyiv’s main supporters in the European Union, have sunk to a new low since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, is one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies and has authorized the use of his country’s territory by Russia for the Ukrainian invasion in 2022, despite the fact that he has stated that Belarusian servicemen won’t participate in it.

Russians have also moved into Belarus with their tactical nuclear weapons.

The incumbent Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party has been declared the winner of the Samoa national election.

FAST won 30 of the 50 seats contested, according to the official results released by the Samoan electoral commission on Friday. However, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, the party’s former leader, will step down in the place of Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt, who took over earlier this year.

14 seats were held by the main opposition, the Human Rights Protection Party. Four more independent candidates were chosen.

Only three seats, including her own, were won by Fiame’s Samoa Uniting Party, which was founded earlier this year. In January, a factional dispute led to her expulsion from FAST.

In the nation of about 220 000 people, rising prices were identified as a pressing issue for voters.

Residents of Apia, the capital of Samoa, had informed the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that they wanted the next government to concentrate on the economy and jobs prior to the election on August 29.

Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, the head of state of Samoa, had issued a warrant confirming the names of the new members of the next parliament.

Seats have been won by five women. At least six women must be in parliament, according to the Samoa Observer, which would require the creation of an additional seat in accordance with a 10% minimum representation requirement.

In 2021, Fiame won the election that removed Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi from power after 22 years, making her the country’s first female leader.

She hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year, which was focused on the Pacific’s impact, to raise the profile of the country internationally.