"Cannot Grant Yoo Seung-jun Visa," Foreign Ministry to Appeal to Supreme Court Again

Yoo Seung-jun Wins Appeal but LA Consulate General Files Further Appeal

Singer Yoo Seung-jun (46, U.S. name Steve Seung-jun Yoo)'s second lawsuit regarding the issuance of an overseas Korean entry visa has also reached the Supreme Court, just like the first case.

According to the legal community on the 2nd, the Consulate General in Los Angeles (LA) filed an appeal to the Seoul High Court Administrative Division 9-3 (Presiding Judges Jo Chan-young, Kim Mu-shin, Kim Seung-joo), the appellate court for the lawsuit filed by Yoo seeking cancellation of the refusal to issue a Korean entry visa.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

In 2015, Yoo applied for an overseas Korean (F-4) visa, but the LA Consulate General refused it, prompting him to file a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court, where he finally won in March 2020.

At that time, the Supreme Court ruled that the LA Consulate General's refusal to issue the visa without discretion, solely based on the past Ministry of Justice's entry ban decision, was illegal.

However, even after the Supreme Court ruling, the LA Consulate General again rejected Yoo's visa application. Consequently, Yoo filed another administrative lawsuit in October 2020, but lost in the first trial of the second administrative lawsuit.

The first trial court interpreted the previous Supreme Court ruling as indicating only procedural illegality in the visa refusal, not that Yoo must be issued a visa.

However, the appellate court ruled in Yoo's favor at the sentencing hearing held on the 13th of last month. The reason was that Yoo applied for the visa in 2015 and therefore the amended Overseas Koreans Act of 2017 could not be applied. According to the Overseas Koreans Act before the amendment, South Korean men who acquired foreign nationality to evade military service were excluded from residence qualification, but this did not apply after the age of 38.

The appellate court stated, "Although there is social outrage against the plaintiff and even after more than 20 years, voices still say 'comprehensive residence qualifications should not be granted to overseas Korean nationals who evaded military service,'" it judged that "if Yoo has passed the legal age of 38, residence qualification should be granted unless there are special circumstances."

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