Hyundai secured many legal temporary business visas, known as B-1 visas, through the U.S. government to help launch its Georgia plant. The B-1 visa allows short-term training, contract signing and consulting, but not full-time construction work. Of those detained in the raid, many had expired B-1 visas or were doing work inappropriate to the terms of the visa. Others had crossed the border illegally. The South Korean press lamented the difficulties of obtaining U.S. visas to import South Korean workers to American shores, largely ignoring the crux of the argument: that foreign companies looking to invest in America need to hire American workers. Foreign nationals must acquire an appropriate visa, such as the H-1B, L1 or E2, to legally obtain employment at workplaces located in the U.S. But as those visas can take months to obtain and their numbers are capped, they are often deemed impractical for companies that need to dispatch workers frequently or on short notice, The Korea Herald moaned of the raid. “Industry officials also complain that wait times for all types of visas have lengthened since the start of the Trump administration.” On Sunday, U.S. border czar Tom Homan said on CNN that the workplace raids would continue. “You’re going to see a lot more worksite enforcement operations,” he said. “It’s a crime to knowingly hire an illegal alien.” “Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our immigration laws,” Mr. Trump Truthed on Sunday.

Restrictions on free speech undermine personal freedoms and self-governance and move Britain down the path toward Communist China or North Korea. Socialist policies remove the motive to work and undermine a once-great nation. Failure to crack down on crime strikes fear in citizens and terror in the hearts of minors. Even legal immigration, without assimilation, can cause major problems for a just society. Restraints on speech aren’t the only problem in the United Kingdom. Years of socialist policies are faintly catching up with the British economy. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned of this dilemma in 1976, saying, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Today, low productivity, stagnant real wages, weak investment and high housing costs in the U.K. have led to poor economic growth for more than a decade-and-a-half. Excessive government spending commitments have increased the national debt and cost-of-living pressures on citizens. The Labour Party took charge of the national government last year and continues to push for increased government spending on expanding the government-run health-care system, a new, government-owned clean power company and plans to build 1.5 million new homes. Labour leaders claim they can pay for it by clamping down on tax evaders, yet the national debt continues to grow. Public safety is also a persistent issue in the United Kingdom. Data shows that the total number of sexual offenses in England and Wales has risen dramatically. Boris Johnson, who previously served as British prime minister and mayor of London, posted this on X: “Everywhere I go I find international investors worried about levels of crime and disorder in Labour-run London.”

Unification Church leader Hak Ja Han Moon is being persecuted by the new government. More than 1,000 South Korean police and prosecutors executed an early morning raid on the 82-year-old woman’s home and office. The left-wing government is demanding the names of all church members so these can be matched up with the members of the Conservative Party. Other religious groups are also facing prosecution by the new government. Despite warnings by President Trump, the South Korean government is continuing its attacks on religious liberty and threatening to damage our nations’ 75-year relationship. In Japan, there has been an all-out effort to destroy the conservative, pro-American Abe faction (named after popular former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated). The Japanese government is also seeking to outlaw the Unification Church and potentially other religious groups. As Americans, we have seen how aggressively the establishment worked to block candidate and then-President Trump from implementing his bold reform programs during his first term. We now know the CIA, FBI and President Obama himself orchestrated an effort to cripple Mr. Trump’s first term. We have lived through two failed impeachment efforts, two failed assassination attempts and four different efforts to put Mr. Trump in jail. This is all part of a worldwide conflict. As elite establishments lose their ability to win fairly, they increasingly resort to abuses of power and devious maneuvers to block popular will from imposing change. We are living through a crucial test of free speech, democracy and self-government.

This suppression of the popular will is ultimately counterproductive, even for the elites themselves. History tells us that popular movements that are suppressed grow rapidly and eventually erupt. The political beneficiaries of these eruptions sometimes come with problems of their own and pose even greater threats to the establishments that sought to subvert them. You see this in Germany. After years of the establishment parties denouncing all speech against immigration, the Alternative for Deutschland(AfD) is growing rapidly. Its leaders have used Nazi slogans and advocated deporting citizens who are not ethnically German. Despite the extreme rhetoric, it is the only party raising issues about crime and immigration. AfD is now the largest opposition party in Germany. Similarly, in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders has moved from being an isolated protest politician with proposals to ban the Quran, restrict immigration from Muslim countries and close mosques. After years of suppression, he is the leader of the largest party in the Dutch parliament. The establishment is horrified and is doing everything it can to stop Mr. Wilders from becoming prime minister. Of course, this pattern of left-wing establishments suppressing populist opposition movements is not restricted to Europe. In Brazil, leading conservative politician and former President Jair Bolsonaro is on trial. His opponents accuse him of trying to plot a coup to stay in power after his 2022 electoral loss. In South Korea, the new left-wing government has adopted a series of totalitarian tactics that resemble North Korea and Communist China.

British law enforcement recently arrested Irish comedian Graham Linehan for a social media post criticizing a transgender activist. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government felt the post threatened public order, so five armed police officers arrested the comedian at Heathrow Airport. For decades in Oldham, England, parents have gone to political leaders alleging their daughters have been raped or groomed into prostitution by Pakistani immigrant gangs. Many of these parents were threatened with arrest for anti-Pakistani rhetoric and turned away. British Parliamentarian Nigel Farage even came to America to testify in front of Congress about how dangerous the threat to free speech has become in his country. Meanwhile, in France, leading conservative politician Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for office and sentenced to jail. European Union establishment opponents accused her and her party of embezzling European Parliament funds to pay party staff. Ms. Le Pen is the likely pick for French president in 2027. She is appealing the case, but the standing restriction from her running for office could ultimately overrule French voters. In Hungary and Poland, the European Union has applied economic pressure to persuade the two populist nations to modify their nationalist positions. The EU wants the Polish and Hungarian governments to allow Brussels to dictate policies that the Polish and Hungarian people reject. In these instances, the European elites have been going all-out to defeat, restrict or overrule opposing parties or ideas.

세계의 모든 사람 특히 자유를 사랑하는 사람들은 한국을 알고 있다. 수십 년 동안 한국은 구렁텅이의 가장자리에 서서 독재주의에 저항하고 자유를 옹호하는 사람들의 대리인으로서 훌륭하게 싸웠다. 최근 일련의 사태전개가 자유 애호가들의 경각심을 불러일으키고 이탈리아의 언론인인 필자가 비행기를 타고 표면 밑을 파도록 만든 이유가 여기에 있다. 다음은 수도 서울에서 사람들과 만나고 인터뷰를 하고 논의를 한 결과이다. 나는 대화 상대자들의 이름을 익명으로 하겠다는 나의 약속을 지킨다. 그러나 나는 내 보고서의 신빙성을 보장한다. 보고서는 국회의원들과 여러 교회의 목사들이 했던 발언을 정확하게 기반으로 한다. 7월 중순과 8월 초에 한국의 몇몇 교회가 급습 수색을 당했는데 주로 서울의 교회였다. 그 교회들은 여의도순복음교회(세계 최대 교회의 하나이며 펜티코스트파 교회로 가장 잘 알려짐), 사랑제일교회(장로교회파, 한국의 소위 대형교회 가운데 하나), 세계평화통일가정연합(과거 통일교회로 알려졌고 아직도 종종 그 명칭으로 언급된다)이며 국제적인 기독교 라디오 방송인 극동방송도 수색 대상이었다. 내가 인터뷰한 사람들 가운데 한 사람인 장로교 목사는 교회 사람들을 포함한 모든 사람들이 죄인이라고 지적했다. 그러나 개인들의 죄가 무엇이든 교회들이 범죄 집단이라는 인상을 주도록 해석되어서는 안 된다. 현재 야당인 국민의힘에 소속된 한 국회의원은 급습 수색에 나선 경찰이 공식적으로 법의 테두리 안에서 행동했을지 모르나 완전한 장비를 갖추고 무장한 요원들이 평화적인 시설 안으로 강제진입하는 광경은 민주적인 한국이 아니라 공산주의 중화인민공화국 같은 나라를 일반적으로 연상시킨다고 강조했다. 법 집행 요원들이 서울 용산구 청파로 319번지에 위치한 가정연합 본부에 강제진입했을 때(경기도 가평군에 있는 가정연합 교회의 다른 시설도 함께 수색을 당했다) 요원들은 또한 대략 110만 명의 추종자들의 이름과 주소를 담은 데이터베이스를 압수했다. 야당에 소속된 그 국회의원은 “교회와 소속 신도들의 권리 그 자체가 이미 침해를 당했다”라고 논평했다. 여기에 덧붙여 국민의힘 본부를 급습 수색하려는 시도가 뒤를 따랐다. 서울 영등포구 여의도동 국회대로 74로에 위치한 이 정당은 과거 중도 및 보수 계열의 3개 단체가 합쳐져 결성되었다. 한국기독교회의 한 대변인은 조사관들의 행동이 교회 추종자들과 그 정당 지지자들 사이의 관계, 아마도 유기적인 상호관계까지 확인하는 것이라고 말했다. 이는 “한국 시민들의 정치적 자유를 명백하게 침해한 것이다.” 가정연합은 몇 개의 사업체와 언론기관을 보유하고 있는데 그 가운데는 워싱턴타임스가 포함된다. 이유와 의도는 분명하다. 2022년에 대통령선거에서 이긴 다음 국민의 힘은 올해까지 한국을 통치했다. 이 기간의 한국 대통령이었던 국민의힘 소속 윤석열 대통령은 12월 4일 계엄령을 선포했다. 국민의힘의 한 소식통은, 야당이 대통령의 예산을 제거하려고 시도했을 때 윤 대통령이 정치적 고립 및 마비를 두려워했다고 설명했다. 또한 윤 대통령은 체제 전복을 노리는 공산주의 분자들의 교묘한 침투가 만연한 것으로 인식했다. 필자가 인터뷰한 몇몇 사람들은 정치인, 기독교 인사, 민간 관측통을 불문하고 공산주의 중국이 수행한 안정 파괴자 역할의 가능성을 보다 광범한 시나리오 속에서 추가로 제기했다. 계엄령은 7월에 윤 대통령의 탄핵과 그에 따른 교도소 수감으로 이어졌다. 윤 대통령은 지금 내란혐의로 재판을 받고 있다. 만약 유죄가 밝혀질 경우 제13대 한국 대통령은 사형에 직면한다. 한국이 1997년을 마지막으로 사형의 집행을 보류하고 있어 사형 선고가 종신형으로 감형될 가능성이 있다. 6월 3일에 치러진 조기 대통령선거에서 국민의힘을 확실히 패배시키고 과거 야당 중심세력의 집권을 실현한 민주당은 자기네가 지명한 이재명을 대통령에 당선시켰다. 한국은 지금 좌경화되고 신임정부는 날마다 심판의 날로 삼아, 어떤 이유로든 과거 정부 및 대통령을 지지했던 사람들의 뒤를 쫓아 그들을 계엄령 확립의 자동적인 공모자로 묘사하고 있다. 야당의 한 소식통은 이렇게 한탄했다. “심지어 국민의힘 자체가 해체되어 한국에서 진정한 보수 정치 세력이 사라질 가능성에 대한 우려가 나오고 있다. 새로운 인물들을 가득 채워 방송통신위원회를 장악하려는 개혁조치와 더불어 야당에 제약을 가하고 침묵시키기 위해 새로운 법률이 제안되고 있다. 새로운 국회의 확고한 다수의석에 의존하고 있는 민주당은 그 목표를 쉽게 이룰 수 있다.” 기독교 교회의 한 논평가는, 윤 대통령의 계엄령을 성급하게 “쿠데타”라고 부르기에 앞서(쿠데타가 아니기 때문에 성급하다는 것이다) 모든 사람에게 분명히 인식되어 마땅한 한 가지 논리로 나를 놀라게 했다. 그 소식통에 따르면, 윤 대통령의 계엄령 선포는 국가에 대한 불복종이나 혹은 대역죄에 해당되는 불법행위가 아니다. 계엄령 선포는 한국 대통령의 특권이다. 물론 대통령은 그렇게 하는데 충분한 이유가 있어야겠으나 법적으로 특권은 존재한다. 윤 대통령이 자신의 법적 권한의 그런 특별한 측면을 행사하기로 결정한 행위의 근거가 확고하고 충분한지 여부를 지금 한국 시민들은 궁금하게 생각하고 있으나 그것은 다른 문제라고 나의 소식통은 계속 말했다. 이는 곧 국제적으로 그렇다. 지금 재판을 받는 윤 대통령은 행동 자체의 합법성이 아니라 그의 계엄령 선포 이유의 정당성에 의해 판단 받아야 한다. 이 구분은 사소한 쟁점이 아니다. 그것은 인간의 생명 즉 윤 대통령의 목숨을 좌우할 수 있으므로 크고도 심오하다. 몇몇 교회 및 국민의힘 본부에 대한 급습 수색은, 많은 사람의 마음속에 특정 교회 집단의 출석자들이 그 자체로 범죄자라는 극도로 거짓된 가정을 만드는 용납할 수 없는 영향을 미치고 있다. 미묘하지만 치명도가 덜 하지 않은, 종교가 중죄 행위와 법의 위반을 일삼는 사악한 “컬트”라는 관념에 의해 이런 가정이 더욱 악화된다. 그러나 중심 요점은, 언론계 사람이지만 외국인 조사자가 패배하고 있는 민주적인 정당의 지지자들을 사냥하는 것이 민주적인 나라에 마땅한 민주적인 행동이 아니라는 점에 즉각 주목하고 있다는 사실이다. 패배한 전임 대통령과 우파 성향의 민주적인 주요 전국 정당과 동조하는 것을 지향하거나 혹은 그렇게 인식되고 있는 종교 단체들에 속한 예배의 장소에 대한 공격으로 이것이 악화될 때 상황은 더욱 충격적으로 변한다. 정치적 보복과 민주적인 반대자들 및 자유 시민들에 대한 탄압을 노리는 것은 민주적인 관행이 아니라고 필자와 인터뷰한 사람이 지적했다. 정치 보복을 추구하는 과정에서 종교를 이용하고 시민들의 종교적인 정서를 이용하는 것은 불쾌한 행동이다. 자유는 종교의 자유에서 시작된다. 만약 자유로운 종교 행위가 축소될 경우 발언의 자유와 언론의 자유 및 평화로운 집회를 하고 정부에 민원사항의 시정을 청원하는 시민들의 권리가 오래지 않아 모두 줄어든다. 오늘날 한국이 직면한 현안은 그에 못지않다. 그것은 멀리 떨어진 지역적인 문제가 아니다. 오성환 외신전문위원 suhwo@segye.com

Recently, a mentally deranged individual, confused about his identity and sexuality, slaughtered two children and wounded 17. The 23-year-old killer was Robin Westman. In a manifesto posted online before he killed himself and others, Westman confessed he was “tired of being trans” and wished he had “never brain-washed” himself. “I only keep [the long hair] because it is my last shred of being trans,” he wrote. “I can’t cut my hair now as it would be embarrassing defeat.” Transgenderism should be treated for what it is: a mental health disorder. Instead, Westman’s choice to transition was supported by his community and his family as “gender-affirming care.” This, even though 46% of transgender and nonbinary young people seriously considered suicide in the past year, according to The Trevor Project’s 2024 National Survey on LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health. Eighty-five percent of minors who suffer from gender dysphoria, if left untreated by transition methods such as hormones or surgery, stop expressing behaviors or feelings that seem at odds with their sex assigned at birth as they age. Yet the left wants to celebrate their mental illness. It encourages minors to use hormones, antidepressants and surgically alter their physical appearance to amplify their sickness. Democrats refuse to acknowledge that there are two biological sexes. They cannot define what a woman is. They go out of their way to obfuscate and moralize transgenderism. The LGBTQ movement is a cult, amplified by the left under the guise of tolerance.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain infamously returned from a 1938 conference with Adolf Hitler, proclaiming “peace in our time.” It wasn’t true then, and it’s quite apparent that peace in our time in Hamas’ war on Israel and Russia’s war on Ukraine is just as distant as it was in 1938. Peace between Israel and Hamas depends on the release of the hostages. Victims don’t take hostages; terrorists do. If Hamas refuses to release the remaining hostages, both alive and dead, no peace - not even a ceasefire - can be possible. The Kremlin made clear recently that Ukraine may be allowed to exist but without the Donbas region. It has also demanded that NATO troops not be stationed in Ukraine and that Ukraine abandon its ambitions to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected any land-for-peace deal. Land-for-peace deals have a long and sordid history going back to 1938 and Chamberlain’s deal with Hitler, which traded the Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia) for peace. The Israelis have traded land for peace, having abandoned Gaza to Palestinian control in 2005. If Mr. Zelenskyy refuses a land-for-peace deal, he will be accepting only the historical verdict on such deals. If he agrees, he will be accepting the idea that Mr. Putin could revive the war at any time it suits him. Why would Mr. Trump accept a deal that has no future? He wants to be remembered in history as a peacemaker. There will be no peace in our time while Russia and Hamas continue their aggression.

The New York Times report says Pentagon planners have begun working on the covert war and that Mr. Trump’s action signals [his] continued willingness to use military forces. These are usually kept secret, so they are prime targets for leaks. If we are to engage the cartels, we will have to kill many of their leaders. Then there’s the question of conducting U.S. military operations inside Mexico. A covert war in Mexico, and possibly Haiti and Venezuela, is a new concept. Mexico is a failed state, as is Haiti. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government has completely failed to assert control over the cartels, even though the government declared war on them in 2006. That war has been lost. Mr. Trump should be remorseless in killing and destroying the cartels’ leaders and their assets. The drug cartels are the primary means for the smuggling of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S. The cartels are responsible for the enormous increase in violence along the border, including killings, human smuggling and trafficking, arms trafficking and fuel theft. Mr. Trump’s covert war should aim to unite South and Central American governments against the cartels. That may be a false hope, as some of those governments profit from the cartels’ activities. The covert war Mr. Trump has declared on the cartels will be a special operations war. It will feature several kinds of drones, including drones for reconnaissance as well as those that can kill. It is an opportunity for us to test out new drones that can smell drugs and those that can pass unseen because of their size or stealth, or both.

It’s also unrealistic to think Ukraine can join NATO anytime soon. A unanimous vote by all existing members would be required, which is not likely. However, Ukraine should not be prohibited from applying for membership because that would imply that Ukraine is, as Mr. Putin insists, a Russian possession rather than an independent and sovereign nation-state with the right to seek defense alliances as its elected leaders see fit. Mr. Trump has found brokering a Moscow-Kyiv deal frustrating and warned that he might walk away, but he also said last week: “I want to save a lot of lives!” His advisers should remind him that if he ends U.S. intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and cuts off military aid, Mr. Putin will slaughter many more Ukrainian men, women and children. It’s lovely to think everyone prizes peace, but if that were true, Mr. Putin wouldn’t have begun this war and would have sought an “offramp” when it became clear that the Ukrainians would fight like wolverines rather than surrender their freedom. Nor is Mr. Putin crying salty tears over his troops ending up as cannon fodder. That’s a price he is more than willing to pay to drag Ukraine back into the Russian empire. Should he succeed, expect him to press bayonets to the backs of Ukrainian soldiers and order them to march west. Our European friends understand that. On Friday, Reuters published a Ukraine-European proposal that would include a “full, unconditional ceasefire in the sky, on land, and at sea.” Mr. Trump can get this “Deal DONE!” He has the cards. By playing them now, he will succeed.