Korea Has Jitters About Funding Our Pipeline. Is It Because ICE Deported Hundreds Of South Korean Workers In Chains From A U.S. Hyundai Plant Last Fall?

COPPER RIVER COUNTRY JOURNAL 

After Brutal ICE Raid In A U.S. Hyundai Factory, South Korean President Told Washington They Would 'Hesitate To Make Direct Investments' In America. He Apparently Meant It. 

It's A Year Later. 

South Korea Is Refusing To Bail Out Alaska's Flailing Infrastructure By Funding A Financially Risky LNG Pipeline To 'Save Alaska'  

October 7th, 2026:

South Korea has cold feet about footing the bill for the U.S. proposed Alaska Natural Gasline. Their refusal to step up and pay for the ambitious and complicated project has been highly criticized by Alaskan officials and the President of the United States.  

The U.S. will not accept the situation and take no for an answer. They're demanding South Korea's funding. 

At a recent major Oval Office announcement, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan's effort to secure the money was highly praised.  South Korea – a longtime U.S. ally – was going to spend billions on Alaska's infrastructure, a group of U.S. federal and state officials told the world. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy claimed that South Korea was going to give America $54 billion for the proposed Alaska LNG line, and that this would "save the state of Alaska." 

To their apparent surprise, though, only a day or so later, South Korea said, No, this was not a done deal and they hadn't committed. South Korea said the U.S. had jumped the gun. 

The president shot back that he hadn't jumped the gun, and that he would punish South Korea if they didn't step up and fund Alaska's vitally needed infrastructure. Apparently referring to brutal tariffs, he threatened the tiny, distant Asian country: "Tell them if they don't sign shortly, I'm going to double it up." 

South Koreans have their reasons, no doubt. They have a recent history of doing business in the United States that has left them shaken. 

On September 4th, 2025 – only a year ago – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducted the largest 'single-site' ICE raid in the nation's history. Their target? South Koreans working on a huge South Korean-American economic project.

Over 400 law enforcement officers swooped in on a Hyundai EV battery factory near Savannah, with guns  and heavy equipment. 

ICE officers rounded up over 300 South Korean nationals who were employed mainly as specialized engineers and subcontractors. According to reports, these 'highly skilled workers' were in the U.S. temporarily to install equipment and get the company up and running because America doesn't have their skills. 

Then ICE shackled the South Korean professionals' hands, waists and feet, placed them in cells for a week, and eventually deported them as illegal aliens to their home country.

The raids brought outrage in South Korea as people watched TV feeds showing their engineers up against the wall in the Hyundai factory in a U.S. state, surrounded by American ICE agents. 

Korean officials were surprised and shocked. They said the technicians were 'required' to install the machinery and equipment, because 'the US doesn't have such personnel.' The U.S. hadn't given visas to the workers to temporarily work there, the Koreans said. 

The average Korean's anger, bewilderment and confusion was without precedent. 

As a people, South Koreans don't take well to public humiliation. The raid on the South Koreans at Hyundai (called 'Operation Low Voltage') was degrading. Angered citizens saw it as a clear sign of hostility, bad faith and unreliability on the part of the United States of America. 

On September 12th, 2025, 316 South Korean Hyundai workers arrived by plane on a chartered Korean Air flight back in their home country. The anger was palpable as the plane touched down and supporters crowded round.  

The South Korean presidential chief of staff showed up at the airport to personally welcome and honor the Hyundai workers, and to assure them that their country still respected them after the ordeal. 

The U.S.-based factory was funded primarily by the Hyundai Motor Group, a South Korean firm, which committed up to $12 billion into the EV battery plant.  

The 'Metaplant's' grand opening on the shores of North America was a very big deal, and kicked off only a few months before the raids, in March, 2025. The opening of the plant seemed to be a sign of willing cooperation between the two countries, and, like the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline, a powerful driver of U.S. economic growth, assisted by South Korea. As the Hyundai website said:

Executive Chair of Hyundai celebrates grand opening of Hyundai plant with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on March 26th, 2025. Several months later, hundreds of South Korean experts were shackled and deported as illegals by ICE. 

Traditionally, South Korea has been a strong ally of the United States. Although it's a very small country, with a gross national product that is a fraction of the wealth of the U.S., this appeared to show that South Korea was willing to help "make America great" by working with its much more powerful and wealthy longtime friend by literally footing the bill. 

Now, a year later, perhaps it's no surprise that South Korea may not be in the mood to become involved with Alaska's new and complicated project... a pipeline that – somehow – America can't pay for on its own.