*

Presidential chief of staff says raid affected 'innocent

people

of Korea'

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New visa category for South Koreans under discussion after

raid

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South Korean President has warned firms may be hesitant to

invest in US

(Updates subheadings, adds South Korea foreign minister in

paragraph 18)

By Joyce Lee, Jihoon Lee and Hyunjoo Jin

INCHEON, South Korea, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Some 300 South

Korean workers returned home on Friday to emotional reunions

with families, one week after being detained in a major U.S.

immigration raid that left some questioning whether they would

ever work in the United States again.

Wearing face masks, they disembarked a chartered plane at

Incheon airport and were greeted with cheers from officials,

including the presidential chief of staff, before being taken by

bus to meet family members.

Their return capped a week of intense negotiations by Seoul

to win their release and bring them home after they were taken

into custody in handcuffs and shackles - images that shocked

many in South Korea, a key U.S. ally.

SOUTH KOREA WANTS CHANGES TO U.S. VISA SYSTEM

South Korean businesses have long struggled with obtaining

proper visas for specialist staff needed at project sites for

months at a time, which has led to some workers relying on grey

areas in U.S. visa enforcement.

The two countries are looking at establishing a working

group to consider a new type of visa for Koreans, according to

South Korea's foreign minister who visited Washington this week.

Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said he had come

to the airport to highlight how seriously President Lee Jae

Myung was taking the incident that had affected "innocent people

of Korea."

"We're in an age of new normal in dealing with the United

States," Kang told reporters.

"The standard changes every time and constantly there has to

be deal-making, not only on tariffs, but it'll also be the case

with security issues," he said.

The workers were met by family members and officials at LG

Energy Solution (LGES), and its subcontractors. The

battery company is partnering with Hyundai Motor ( HYMLF ) to

build the plant in the U.S. state of Georgia.

The raid has threatened to destabilise ties at a time when

the countries are seeking to finalise a trade deal, which

includes a $350 billion investment fund to support strategic

U.S. industries.

In one sign of resentment, at the arrival gate, a man

unfurled a large poster depicting U.S. President Donald Trump

wearing an outfit with the initials of the U.S. Immigration and

Customs Enforcement service and carrying a bag full of dollar

bills with a machine gun slung across his chest. The caption

read: "We're friends!"

Police later forced the poster owner to move away from the

arrival gate.

HORRIFIED WORKERS PUT IN HANDCUFFS AND SHACKLES

Returning workers said they were horrified by the September

4 raid conducted jointly by U.S. immigration authorities, the

FBI and the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms and Explosives that rounded up 475 workers at the

plant's site.

"It started to look serious because we thought we would be

taking the transport vehicle, but then they started putting

handcuffs and shackles, and that's when we thought 'Oh, this is

not going to be a simple transport,'" LG Energy Solution

engineer Choi Young-hee said.

In a sign that Washington recognises the importance of South

Korean investment and the skills of the country's workers needed

to get plants operational, Trump earlier this week offered to

allow the workers to stay to train Americans.

Asked about the overture, Jang Young-seol, an engineer for

an LGES subcontractor, said he'd need to think long and hard

about it.

"Nobody is going to stay and work when it's like this," he

said.

Returning from Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho

Hyun said the workers' return home, initially planned for

Wednesday, was halted when Trump intervened, saying "This is not

right" and asked if there was a different ending to the case.

South Korean President Lee warned on Thursday that the

incident could make South Korean companies hesitant about

investing in the United States at a time when Trump has been

seeking to encourage foreign investment in manufacturing.

Hyundai has said the plant is facing a minimum startup

delay of two to three months following the immigration raid. The

plant, part of a $7.6 billion factory complex to make

battery-powered models, was slated to come online later this

year.

The returning workers included 10 from China, three from

Japan and an Indonesian national.