U.S. deputy state secretary urges Korean companies to keep investing despite Georgia raid
Published: 15 Sep. 2025, 13:31
Updated: 15 Sep. 2025, 20:43
![U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau arrives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs annex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sept. 14 for a meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/15/8e591851-7f64-441c-9ff6-5045eb92f707.jpg)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau arrives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs annex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sept. 14 for a meeting with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. [YONHAP]
Christopher Landau, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, said Monday that Washington wants foreign companies to keep investing in the United States. He shared a message from President Donald Trump on X and said he had repeated it during his visit to Korea.
Landau reposted Trump’s message on X early Monday morning, writing, “The United States welcomes and encourages foreign investment in our country and therefore logically welcomes and encourages the personnel necessary to get those investments up and running.”
“This is a very important message directly from President Trump that I reaffirmed on my recent trip to South Korea," he said.
Landau went on to stress the economic importance of foreign workers, saying, “These are the kind of visitors we want, who are creating American jobs and prosperity."
"Korean companies are poised to make massive new investments in our country (in shipbuilding among other industries), and — as I emphasized to our Korean friends — we [...] will ensure that they have the necessary and proper visas to comply with our laws.”
![U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau uploaded a post saying “The United States welcomes and encourages foreign investment in our country" on X on Sept. 15. [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/15/6f3ec818-85c4-416b-b8cc-77eb6df25d79.jpg)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau uploaded a post saying “The United States welcomes and encourages foreign investment in our country" on X on Sept. 15. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
Trump’s post, published on Truth Social at 3:24 a.m. Korea time Monday, read, “When foreign companies who are building extremely complex products, machines [...] come into the United States with massive investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products."
"I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside countries or companies. We welcome them, we welcome their employees and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them," Trump added.
Landau shared the U.S. president’s message just an hour later, directly linking it to Korea as he was departing for Papua New Guinea and the Marshall Islands after his two-day visit to Seoul.
His remarks come after the recent detention of a large group of Korean workers in Georgia. The arrests, which included images of workers in handcuffs, sparked public anger in Korea over their treatment and allegations of inhumane conditions in detention.
![U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau lays a wreath and observes a moment of silence at the memorial wall for fallen U.S. soldiers during his visit to the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Sept. 14. [WAR MEMORIAL OF KOREA]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/09/15/cead3a0d-a0c8-4e3f-b402-8cef932e7026.jpg)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau lays a wreath and observes a moment of silence at the memorial wall for fallen U.S. soldiers during his visit to the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Sept. 14. [WAR MEMORIAL OF KOREA]
During his visit, Landau also toured the War Memorial of Korea on Sunday. Later on X, he said, "I couldn’t visit the Republic of Korea without acknowledging the Korean War, which forever bound together our countries with blood and sacrifice."
When Baek Seung-joo, chairman of the memorial foundation, said he hoped the detention issue would be resolved constructively, Landau responded that Washington would work to ensure that Koreans working in the United States do not face confusion regarding their visas.
Landau expressed “deep regret” over the incident in a meeting with First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was the first time a U.S. official had formally expressed regret over the detentions.
The ministry quoted him as saying there would be no disadvantage for those deported if they sought to reenter the United States and that Washington would work to prevent similar incidents in the future.
As of Monday morning, however, the U.S. State Department had not issued an official press release confirming Landau’s remarks, and neither the U.S. Embassy in Seoul nor Landau mentioned the expression of regret in other public posts about his visit.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIM SEO-KYONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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