*

Only one worker chose to stay in the US after Trump's

overture

*

South Korea says US has agreed to discuss new visa

category

*

Lee says South Korean firms now hesitant about direct

investment

in US

(Writes through with details of workers leaving, President Lee

comments)

By Jack Kim and Ju-min Park

SEOUL, Sept 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump

offered to allow hundreds of South Korean workers arrested

during an immigration raid to stay in the United States, but

only one has opted to remain, South Korean officials said on

Thursday.

Trump's overture sought to encourage the workers to stay and

train Americans, according to the officials. It resulted in a

one-day delay to the departure of a chartered plane to bring the

workers home.

The plane is now scheduled to leave the U.S. later in the

day. TV footage showed the workers boarding buses outside the

barbed-wire clad fences of a detention centre at around 2 a.m.

on Thursday to go to Atlanta airport.

Unlike other U.S. deportations, they were not handcuffed -

satisfying a key demand from South Korea, which has been

horrified by the raid, particularly by the use of armoured

vehicles and shackles.

Some 300 South Koreans were arrested last week along with

more than 150 others at the Georgia construction site of a $4.3

billion Hyundai Motor ( HYMLF ) and LG Energy Solution

project to build batteries for electric cars.

While the raid has been trumpeted by U.S. immigration

authorities, it has threatened to destabilise ties at a time

when both countries are seeking to finalise a trade deal, and to

scare off South Korean investment in the United States which

Trump has been so keen to secure.

"Our businesses that have entered the United States are

likely in a state of serious confusion," President Lee Jae Myung

told a news conference on Thursday to mark his first 100 days in

office.

Lawmakers in Seoul have acknowledged that there may have

been some overstepping of the boundaries of a 90-day visa waiver

programme or a B-1 temporary business visa.

But South Korean companies have also complained for years

that they have struggled to obtain short-term work visas for

specialists needed at their high-tech U.S. plants, and had come

to rely on a grey zone of looser interpretation of visa rules

under previous American administrations.

VISA TALKS

In the wake of the raid, Washington and Seoul have agreed to

discuss establishing a new visa category for Koreans, South

Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun has said.

But current difficulties about sending staff to the U.S.

could affect direct investment. "Our businesses that are

investing in the United States will no doubt be very hesitant,"

Lee said.

Seoul has also asked that the detained workers not be

disadvantaged should they seek to re-enter the United States

again.

The White House, the U.S. Department of State, and the

Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to

requests for comment.

While the broader impact on South Korean investment in the

U.S. has yet to become fully clear, some South Korean workers

are decamping in droves from more of LG Energy Solution's U.S.

production sites because of visa concerns, people familiar with

the situation said.

LG Energy Solution has also asked its subcontractors to

prepare contingency plans and hire local workers, one of the

people said.

Many of the detained workers are employees of subcontractors

involved in the project. South Korean media also said a smaller

number of Japanese and Chinese nationals had also been arrested

during the raid.

China's foreign ministry said its embassy in the United

States was working to gain a detailed understanding of the

situation and provide necessary assistance to its citizens.

"We urge the U.S. to enforce laws impartially and to ensure

the legitimate rights and interests of the involved Chinese

citizens," it said in a statement to Reuters.

Japan has said three of its nationals were affected by the

raid and it will take appropriate steps to protect them.