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Georgia battery plant raid may help Korea in trade negotiations: Victor Cha

Published: 19 Sep. 2025, 20:23 Updated: 19 Sep. 2025, 20:44

Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), speaks to reporters in Seoul on Sept. 19. [YONHAP]

The U.S. immigration raid on Hyundai Motor's car battery plant in Georgia could put South Korea in a better position in follow-up trade negotiations with Washington, a U.S. expert said Friday.

Victor Cha, president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), made the remarks in a meeting with reporters in Seoul, arguing the mass detention of Korean workers may have been an unexpected event for U.S. President Donald Trump.

"I think what happened with Hyundai was very ill-timed and embarrassing for President Trump, so maybe that will help Korea to get some sort of a better investment agreement," Cha said.

He pointed to the recent visit by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and the launching of talks for a new visa system for Korean workers as Trump's move to "quickly rectify" the situation.

"It's quite significant that Trump says we are going to negotiate a special visa agreement for Korea because that goes completely against his anti-immigration policy," he said.

Speaking about the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Korea next month, Cha said Trump could view his attendance as an opportunity to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A meeting between the two and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing is "another possibility," he noted, referring to speculation that Trump could visit Beijing around the APEC summit.

"That might be another possibility, because he [Trump] likes that sort of a very spectacular news event," he said.

On the United States' North Korea policy, Cha argued that Washington will never give up on the goal of denuclearization, but noted if Trump agrees to a peace agreement without any real movement on denuclearization, that would mean "de facto giving up of the goal."

Touching on the ties between Russia and North Korea, Cha said their relationship has become "even deeper than it was during the Cold War."

He raised concerns over Russia's possible provision of weapons technology to North Korea, saying if Russia helps North Korea build a nuclear submarine, "that's the end."

Adding to such concerns is that there seems to be no policy tools the U.S., Japan or South Korea could utilize to divide the two sides, he said.

"They can sanction North Korea, but that will just push North Korea closer to Russia," Cha said.

Should they offer carrots, "they [North Koreans] are just going to eat all the carrots and then continue to have the support from Russia," he added.

Cha is currently visiting Seoul where he attended an international conference hosted by the Institute for Global Economics (IGE) and Woori Financial Group earlier Friday.

Yonhap