By Amber Dasilva

Copyright jalopnik

LG Energy Solution Ltd. will start sending workers from South Korea back to the US for essential business trips less than a month after hundreds of employees were detained in a visa crackdown.

Trips will restart after the Chuseok holiday, which wraps up at the end of next week, LG Energy said in a statement Thursday.

“This decision follows confirmation from the US-Korea working group that holders of short-term commercial (B-1) visas and Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) are permitted to perform equipment installation, inspection, and maintenance at our US factories,” the statement said.

On Tuesday, Washington and Seoul held an inaugural meeting of their Business Travel and Visa working group in Washington as part of efforts to establish clarity in the US work visa system. Most of the detained workers were on B-1 visas or under a 90-day visa waiver program commonly referred to as ESTA, which doesn’t allow for employment but which also doesn’t clarify the scope of business allowed.

During the meeting, the US reaffirmed that South Korean companies can use B-1 visas and ESTA for installation, service and repair of equipment, and the two countries agreed to launch a Korea investor desk at the US embassy in Seoul to handle employment issues, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.