Yoo Seung-Jun’s decades-long fight to return to South Korea is heading back to the country’s Supreme Court. The Consulate General of South Korea in Los Angeles has appealed his third visa lawsuit, after losing the case at both the first-instance and appellate levels.
According to Xports News on October 27, the consulate filed its appeal on October 26 with Administrative Division 8-2 of the Seoul High Court. The legality of the visa refusal will once again be decided by the Supreme Court, despite Yoo’s two earlier Supreme Court wins on the same issue.
The first-instance court ruled in Yoo’s favor, finding that the harm caused to him by the visa refusal outweighed the public interest served by it, and that the refusal was an unlawful exercise of discretion. On October 2, the appellate court upheld that ruling in full, leaving only the Supreme Court route open.
After the appellate win, Yoo addressed his supporters on social media, reflecting on the 24 years since he was barred from entering South Korea, saying he is now a father of four and approaching 50, and that he has never forgotten his fans and hopes to meet them again.
No official statement from the consulate on the appeal was available in the report. The report also cautioned that even a final Supreme Court victory for Yoo would not automatically guarantee that a visa will be issued or that he will be allowed to enter South Korea.
The dispute dates back to 2002. Yoo, who debuted as a singer in 1997 and had publicly promised to enlist for military service, left South Korea shortly before his enlistment date and acquired United States citizenship, sparking a draft-evasion controversy. The Ministry of Justice subsequently barred him from entering the country.
His legal battle began in 2015, when he turned 38 and applied for an overseas Korean (F-4) visa at the Los Angeles consulate. The application was refused, and his first lawsuit ended with a Supreme Court victory finalized in March 2020. A second lawsuit, filed in October 2020 after another refusal, ended with a second Supreme Court win in November 2023.
The consulate refused a visa for a third time in June 2024, prompting the third lawsuit that September. Yoo won that case at both lower levels, setting up the Supreme Court appeal now underway. No date has been set for the Supreme Court’s ruling.
