The legal battle over a visa for singer Yoo Seung-jun, known in the United States as Steve Seung-jun Yoo, is heading to the Supreme Court once again. Yoo has been barred from entering South Korea for 24 years over allegations that he dodged military service.
Barred for 24 Years Since Draft Controversy, With Two Supreme Court Wins
According to legal sources on the 26th, the Consulate General of South Korea in Los Angeles filed an appeal that day with the 8-2 administrative division of the Seoul High Court, presided over by high court judges Kim Bong-won, Lee Young-chang and Choi Bong-hee. On Oct. 2, the panel had dismissed the consulate's appeal and upheld a lower court ruling in Yoo's favor in his suit seeking to overturn the denial of his visa application.
The dispute dates back to 2002. Yoo, who debuted in 1997 and was active in the domestic music scene, had said on television that he intended to serve in the military. But in January 2002, shortly before he was due to report for public service duty, he left the country citing overseas performances and acquired U.S. citizenship. The move cost him his South Korean nationality and released him from his military obligation, drawing fierce criticism.
The Ministry of Justice at the time barred him from entering the country under the Immigration Act, concluding that his presence could harm the national interest or public safety.
In August 2015, after turning 38, Yoo applied to the Los Angeles consulate for an F-4 overseas Korean residency visa. Under the overseas Korean law in force at the time, a person who had lost his nationality to avoid military service could still be granted overseas Korean residency status once he reached the age of 38.
When the consulate rejected the application in September that year, Yoo filed his first administrative lawsuit. He lost at the first and second instances, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, and he won on remand. The judgment became final in March 2020, when the Supreme Court declined to review a further appeal.
The consulate nonetheless denied him a visa again, arguing that his evasion of military duty could damage the national interest. Yoo filed a second suit in October 2020 and again won a final ruling at the Supreme Court in November 2023.
Third Suit Also Won at Both Levels, Now Back Before the Supreme Court
In June 2024, however, the consulate again refused to issue a visa, citing the Justice Ministry's 2002 decision to bar his entry. Yoo filed a third lawsuit in September of that year.
In August last year, the first-instance court found that the harm to Yoo outweighed the public interest the consulate sought to protect by denying the visa. Applying what amounts to a permanent entry ban to Yoo, unlike other people who have avoided military service, violates the principle of proportionality and constitutes an abuse of administrative discretion, the court said.
The appellate court upheld that reasoning on Oct. 2, giving Yoo wins at both levels in his third case.
A ruling overturning the visa denial does not automatically mean he will be allowed into the country. What the courts have assessed is whether the consulate's refusal to issue the visa was lawful. Even if the judgment becomes final, separate administrative procedures on the visa itself and on the existing entry ban may remain.