South Korea and U.S. to Hold First 'Visa Working Group' Meeting in Washington on the 30th... 'B1' Visa Scope Likely to Expand

South Korea and the United States will officially launch a working group to address visa issues, about a month after the detention of Korean workers in the state of Georgia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 29th that it will hold the "1st Korea-U.S. Working Group Meeting" on September 30 (local time) in Washington, D.C., to discuss ways to facilitate entry into the United States for companies investing in the U.S. and to improve the visa system. The chief representative for South Korea will be Jeong Gihong, the government official in charge of overseas citizen protection and consular affairs, while the chief representative for the U.S. will be Kevin Kim, a senior official from the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Other relevant agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. immigration authorities, are also expected to participate in the working group discussions.

This is a follow-up measure to the unprecedented incident on September 4, when 317 Korean workers were suddenly detained at the Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution joint battery plant construction site in Georgia. A high-ranking government official met with Korean correspondents in New York on the 26th and said, "We formed the working group and conveyed it to the U.S. side, and suggested holding a meeting in Washington in September. The U.S. side also responded very positively regarding the direction of the discussions."

The working group is expected to prioritize resolving visa issues for employees dispatched by Korean companies investing in the U.S. Proposals under consideration include expanding the scope of the B1 short-term business visa for business purposes and establishing a separate visa desk for Korean businesspeople at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.

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