South Korean customs agency with the data for the first third of the month:
- exports +3.8% y/y
- Trade balance at provisional $-1.23 bln
- imports +11.1% y/y
Meanwhile South Korea and the US are in discussions over the detaining of South Korea workers in the US after a U.S. immigration raid saw 475 workers rounded up at a Hyundai Motor site earlier this week:
- will discuss establishing a new visa category for Koreans
- Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday
- chartered plane carrying the workers will depart the United States on Thursday travelling back to South Korea
- Cho told Rubio that Koreans were "hurt and shocked" by the arrest of workers "who came to the U.S. to transfer technology and know-how to contribute to the Trump administration's efforts to revive the U.S. manufacturing industry"
