Yoo Seung-jun "Unclear if I received military conscription notice... Please allow entry"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Singer Yoo Seung-jun (45, U.S. name Steve Seung-jun Yoo) and his representatives have claimed again that it is unclear whether he received a military conscription notice from the Military Manpower Administration and requested that he be allowed to enter South Korea.

Yoo's legal representatives made this claim during the third hearing of the lawsuit against the Consulate General in Los Angeles (LA) held on the 18th at the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 5 (Presiding Judge Jung Sang-gyu).

The representatives stated, "There is no objective evidence to prove whether the enlistment notice was issued," and added, "We will request a fact inquiry from the Military Manpower Administration to verify this."

The government's legal representatives responded, "This is a claim that was never made in previous lawsuits," and said, "It is a sudden claim, so it is puzzling."

In response, Yoo's representatives explained, "In the previous lawsuit, it was naturally assumed that the notice had been received, but recently, according to staff from the agency and relatives, it is said that the notice was never received."

They also said, "When former President Kim Dae-jung retired in 2003, he wrote thank-you letters to several citizens, including the plaintiff (Yoo Seung-jun)," and added, "Overseas Koreans were specially treated along with the citizens."

They appealed for Yoo's entry, saying, "If the country sent a warm letter to someone who wants to apologize for their wrongdoing and have a chance to recover, giving that opportunity would be the beautiful nation the judge mentioned."

Yoo's representatives also mentioned other foreign-national entertainers in court, saying, "There are many entertainers who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or of Korean diaspora origin."

The court announced that the final hearing will be held on the 16th of next month. Accordingly, the first-instance ruling on Yoo is expected to be issued around January next year.

Yoo was restricted from entering South Korea in 2002 because he acquired U.S. citizenship to avoid military service obligations. He later applied to enter with an overseas Korean visa but was denied. After administrative litigation, he won a final ruling in March last year.

After being denied a visa issuance again, Yoo filed an administrative lawsuit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Supreme Court ruling only meant that the decision should be made through proper procedures and did not require issuing a visa, thus refusing to issue the visa.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.