Singer Seungjun Yoo won the appeal in his third lawsuit seeking cancellation of the visa denial on October 2.
The Seoul High Court reached the same conclusion as the trial court, but this ruling alone does not immediately determine whether he can enter Korea.
This case concerned whether the Los Angeles Consulate General’s visa denial in June 2024 was lawful.
3-Line Summary
1. Seungjun Yoo wins the appeal in his third visa lawsuit
2. The Seoul High Court upholds the trial court’s decision
3. The ruling alone does not confirm his entry into Korea
Third Lawsuit Challenging the 2024 Visa Denial
The Seoul High Court’s Administrative Division 8-2 ruled in favor of plaintiff Seungjun Yoo in his lawsuit against the consul general of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles seeking cancellation of the denial of visa issuance. KBS News and Yonhap News reported that the appeals court ruled in Yoo’s favor, as the trial court had.
This case is the appeal in the third lawsuit. After the Los Angeles consulate general again denied Yoo’s visa in June 2024, he filed the lawsuit in September of the same year. In August of last year, the trial court determined that the disadvantage suffered by Yoo was excessively greater than the public interest gained from denying the visa, and that the denial constituted a departure from and abuse of discretionary authority in violation of the principle of proportionality.
According to Yonhap News, the specific reasons for the ruling were not explained in the appeals court. Therefore, the conclusion confirmed by this report is limited to the fact that the trial court’s decision was upheld.
Visa-Issuance Dispute Continuing Since 2015
Yoo acquired U.S. citizenship in 2002 and avoided his military service obligation, and he has since been unable to enter Korea because of the Ministry of Justice’s entry restriction. In 2015, he applied to the Los Angeles consulate general for a visa granting overseas Korean (F-4) status of stay.
The basis presented for that application was the former Act on the Immigration and Legal Status of Overseas Koreans, which allowed overseas Korean status of stay to be granted to a person who had lost nationality for the purpose of evading military service once the person reached age 38. However, the consulate general denied the visa, initiating the litigation.
Yoo won final victories in both his first and second lawsuits after taking them to the Supreme Court. However, the Los Angeles consulate general continued to deny the visa even after the earlier rulings, resulting in the third legal dispute. The central issue in this case is that favorable rulings and administrative denials have repeatedly followed one another over the same visa matter.
Winning the Appeal and Actual Entry into Korea Are Separate Stages
The ruling in this appeal is a court determination that a specific visa denial must be canceled. Based only on the facts reported in the article, it has not been confirmed whether Yoo was actually issued a visa or whether he is now in a position to enter Korea.
For that reason, it is difficult to read “winning the appeal” as meaning “entry confirmed.” The court’s determination of the illegality of the denial and how visa issuance and entry restrictions will proceed afterward need to be considered separately.
What this ruling shows is the court’s determination regarding the visa denial. The outcome of whether Yoo will enter Korea has not been reported.
References
Tags #SeungjunYoo #StevenYoo #SeungjunYooVisa #SeungjunYooEntry #VisaDenial #VisaIssuanceDenial #SeoulHighCourt #LAConsulateGeneral #OverseasKoreanVisa #F4Visa #ActOnOverseasKoreans #AdministrativeLawsuit #AppealVictory