Seoul: A court on Thursday ruled again in favor of Steve Yoo, a Korean American singer, in a lawsuit he filed to reverse the South Korean government's decision to deny him an entry visa for renouncing his Korean citizenship to evade mandatory military service.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul Administrative Court ordered the South Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles to cancel its earlier decision to deny Yoo an entry visa, stating that the visa denial was illegal and should be revoked due to an abuse of discretion. This ruling came in response to Yoo's third lawsuit filed last year against the LA consulate general.
Yoo, also known by his Korean name Yoo Seung-jun, has faced a ban from entering South Korea since he became a U.S. citizen and renounced his Korean citizenship in 2002, allegedly to avoid military duty. He first sought legal recourse in 2015 after the LA consulate general refused to issue him a visa. In 2020, Yoo won a Supreme Court ruling that deemed the visa refusal procedurally flawed. Despite the Supreme Court's favorable ruling, Yoo's subsequent visa application was again denied by the LA consulate general, leading him to file a second lawsuit in 2020.
In November 2023, the Supreme Court once more sided with Yoo. However, following another refusal to issue a visa by the LA consulate general in June last year, Yoo initiated his third lawsuit three months later. The Seoul Administrative Court clarified that its verdict in this latest lawsuit does not imply approval of Yoo's previous actions. Additionally, the court dismissed a separate lawsuit by Yoo aimed at invalidating the justice ministry's entry ban decision from 2002, noting that the matter was outside the court's jurisdiction.