Court Makes A Decision On Whether Or Not Singer Steve Yoo Can Finally Return To Korea — After 20 Years Of Being Denied Entry

About twenty years ago, first-generation K-Pop singer Steve Yoo, also known as Yoo Seung Jun, was banned from Korea. Today, the court made a decision on whether or not he could return to Korea.

In 2002, at the peak of his popularity, Yoo Seung Jun obtained U.S. citizenship to avoid military service, which led him to be banned from entering Korea. He had stated in television shows that he would fulfill his mandatory military service, but when he was drafted, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

In 2015, he filed a lawsuit against the Consulate General of Los Angeles when he tried to enter Korea with a visa for overseas Koreans but was denied issuance. Yoo Seung Jun had applied for a visa that year when the old Overseas Koreans Act was in effect, which had a provision stating that the visa restrictions due to military service evasion would be lifted from the age of 38. The revised Overseas Koreans Act in 2017 raised the age limit to 41.

After the top court ruling, Yoo Seung Jun applied for a visa to enter Korea again. Still, the Consulate General in Los Angeles turned it down, causing him to file a lawsuit against them again in 2020 to reverse the decision. He eventually won the Supreme Court ruling in 2020.

On July 13, the second trial court ruled that the government should cancel the government’s refusal to issue a visa for the 46-year-old singer. The court stated that he was granted residence status because he was over 38.

In principle, those who acquired foreign nationality and lost their Korean nationality for the purpose of avoiding military service should not be granted residence status, but if he is over 38 years old, they should be granted residence status.

— The Court

The court also explained why they accepted Yoo Seung Jun’s application.

To reject the applicant’s application based on general regulations instead of the old military service regulations, the defendant must present separate acts and circumstances apart from military service evasion, but no mention of such separate acts or circumstances can be found in the decision document, making it illegal.

— The Court

The Supreme Court judged that it was procedurally illegal for the Consulate General of Los Angeles to refuse to issue Yoo Seung Jun’s visa without exercising their discretion, and he finally won the case.

However, the singer had filed a second lawsuit in October 2020, claiming that he was denied another visa and that the disposition was contrary to the purpose of the Supreme Court’s ruling. The diplomatic authorities countered, stating that the previous lawsuit’s final ruling did not demand visa issuance as it claimed that proper procedures were not followed in the visa denial process. They denied the visa issuance according to proper procedures.

The court ruled in favor of the diplomatic authorities’ argument in the first trial of Yoo Seung Jun’s second lawsuit and rejected his claim, but the court overturned this decision today.

In December 2020, Yoo Seung Jun spoke out publicly in a YouTube video, criticizing the government for going out of its way to ban his entry to Korea. With tears in his eyes, he pointed out all the other people with money who avoided the army but got away with no consequences, whereas he was being witch-hunted for doing the same thing.

I said I would go to the army but I didn’t keep that promise, so wasn’t I supposed to enter the country to go tell the whole story? But the government has already deceived me as a draft dodger, banned me from entering the country by cutting off all my limbs, and made me known as a liar—and for 19 years, you’re going to propose a law and completely block me from stepping on Korean soil?

— Yoo Seung Jun