singer visa lawsuit-court

▲ This 2010 file photo shows Korean American singer Yoo Seung-jun. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- A court of appeals on Friday upheld a lower court's ruling in favor of Steve Yoo, a Korean American singer, in his third lawsuit seeking to overturn the South Korean government's decision to deny him an entry visa after he renounced his Korean citizenship, allegedly to evade mandatory military service.

The Seoul High Court ruled that the decision by the South Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles to deny Yoo an entry visa must be revoked, upholding a ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court in August last year.

The high court did not provide a specific explanation for its ruling.

The case is an appeal of Yoo's third lawsuit against the LA consulate general after it denied his visa application.

Yoo, 48, also known by his Korean name Yoo Seung-jun, has been barred from entering South Korea after he became a U.S. citizen and renounced his Korean citizenship in 2002, with the alleged goal of dodging his military duty.

Yoo first filed a lawsuit in 2015 after the LA consulate general refused to issue him a visa. In 2020, Yoo won a Supreme Court ruling that the visa refusal was procedurally flawed. After the top court's ruling, Yoo applied again for a visa to enter Korea, but the LA consulate general again turned it down, prompting Yoo to file a second suit in 2020 to reverse the decision.

The Supreme Court again made a ruling favorable to Yoo in November 2023. But the LA consulate general refused to issue a visa again in June 2024, leading to Yoo's launch of a third lawsuit three months later.

In August 2025, the Seoul Administrative Court ordered the LA consulate general to cancel its earlier decision to deny Yoo an entry visa, saying the visa denial was illegal and should be revoked due to an abuse of discretion.

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