Lee's chief of staff to greet workers heading home after detention in US raid

Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, speaks during a meeting with Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and senior members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea held at the prime minister's official residence in Seoul, Sept. 7. Yonhap

President Lee Jae Myung's chief of staff was set to visit Incheon International Airport on Friday to greet hundreds of Korean workers returning home after being released from detention in a U.S. immigration raid, the presidential office said.

Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik was due to greet the workers as a chartered plane carrying 316 Korean nationals and 14 foreigners is scheduled to arrive at the airport at 3:11 p.m. Among the passengers are 10 Chinese, three Japanese and one Indonesian.

The workers were detained during last week's raid by U.S. immigration authorities at an electric battery factory construction site in Georgia operated by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution and were flown out of Atlanta earlier in the day.

Before his airport visit, Kang will attend the funeral of a Coast Guard officer who died while rescuing a man off the country's west coast and deliver President Lee Jae Myung's condolence message on his behalf.