By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee 

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met separately with U.S. Senators Andy Kim (Democrat, New Jersey), Todd Young (Republican, Indiana), and Bill Hagerty (Republican, Tennessee) in Washington on September 10 and 11 (local time), exchanging views on the detention of Korean nationals and measures to improve the visa system to prevent recurrence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on September 12.

Minister Cho stated, “Our citizens are deeply concerned about the situation where a large number of our professional personnel, who visited the U.S. to faithfully carry out investment projects, have been detained by U.S. authorities. As Foreign Minister, I have approached consultations with the U.S. with a heavy heart.”

He also emphasized that fundamental measures to prevent recurrence are crucial to ensure Korean personnel do not face unfair treatment, enabling Korean companies to fulfill their investment commitments in the U.S.

In this regard, Minister Cho proposed establishing a new Korea-U.S. working group during his meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss measures such as introducing a new visa category guaranteeing investment-based activities within the U.S. He requested support from the U.S. Congress to ensure smooth progress on related cooperation.

Senators strongly agreed that this incident should not negatively impact Korea-U.S. economic cooperation or the promotion and fulfillment of investments by Korean companies. They welcomed the decision to seek long-term solutions, including the establishment of the Korea-U.S. working group, and stated they would explore necessary institutional support, including future legislative action in Congress.