[Sportschosun reporter Kim Jun-seok] Singer Steve Yoo also won on appeal in his third lawsuit challenging the refusal to issue him a visa to enter South Korea.
Despite winning final rulings from the Supreme Court of Korea in two previous cases, Steve Yoo was unable to obtain a visa. With him winning again, attention is focused on whether this could change his previously blocked path to South Korea.
The Seoul High Court Administrative Division 8-2, comprising High Court Judges Kim Bong-won, Lee Young-chang and Choi Bong-hee, ruled on the 2nd in favor of Steve Yoo, as in the first trial, in his appeal seeking the revocation of the visa refusal issued by the Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles.
The court did not explain the specific reasons for its ruling in court.
This was Steve Yoo's third lawsuit challenging repeated visa refusals. Although he won final rulings from the Supreme Court of Korea in both previous cases, the legal dispute continued after the Los Angeles consulate general again refused to issue him a visa.
Steve Yoo made his debut in 1997 and worked as a singer in South Korea. Although he promised on television that he would enlist in the military, he left the country in January 2002 for a performance and then obtained U.S. citizenship, thereby avoiding his military service obligation.
Public criticism intensified at the time, and the Ministry of Justice restricted Steve Yoo's entry under the Immigration Control Act. The authorities determined that his entry could harm the interests of South Korea or public safety.
In August 2015, when he turned 38, Steve Yoo applied to the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles for an Overseas Korean visa (F-4). His application was based on the former Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans, which allowed overseas Korean status to be granted to individuals aged 38 or older even if they had lost their nationality to evade military service.
After the consulate general refused to issue the visa, he filed his first lawsuit. He ultimately won at the Supreme Court of Korea following proceedings on remand and a further appeal, but the consulate general again refused to issue a visa, citing concerns that evasion of military service could harm the national interest.
Steve Yoo filed his second lawsuit in October 2020 and again won a final ruling from the Supreme Court of Korea in November 2023. After the consulate general refused to issue a visa once more in June 2024, he filed his third lawsuit in September of the same year.
In August last year, the first-trial court in the third lawsuit determined that the disadvantage Steve Yoo suffered was excessive compared with the public interest gained by refusing to issue the visa. It ruled that the refusal should be revoked because it constituted an unlawful deviation from or abuse of discretionary power in violation of the principle of proportionality.
Meanwhile, the victory on appeal means only that the visa refusal should be revoked. It does not mean that a visa will be issued immediately or that his entry into South Korea has been confirmed.
narusi@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
