Singer Yoo Seung Joon will continue his years-long legal battle to return to South Korea after a Seoul court upheld the first appeal hearing in his latest visa case for July 3.
According to legal sources, the Seoul High Court will hear Yoo’s appeal against the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles on May 20 for its refusal to issue him a Korean visa abroad. The hearing comes nearly 10 months after a lower court ruled in Yoo’s favor in August 2025.
Yoo, who debuted in 1997 and became one of Korea’s biggest stars, has failed to enter the country since 2002, AllKpop reported.
The controversy began when he left South Korea for an overseas program while facing mandatory military service requirements. He later obtained US citizenship, which exempted him from military service and sparked a strong public reaction.
Soon after, the Ministry of Justice banned his entry under immigration rules that allow the government to deny entry to foreigners deemed harmful to national interests or public safety.
In 2015, after turning 38, Yoo applied for an F-4 Korean Overseas Visa through the Los Angeles consulate. At the time, Korean law allowed former citizens related to military service issues to apply for visas after that age. However, the request was rejected, starting a legal dispute that has lasted for more than a decade.
Yoo Seung Joon continues the fight to return to Korea
Yoo later won two separate Supreme Court decisions related to the case. Nonetheless, the Los Angeles consulate continued to reject his visa requests, arguing that his past actions regarding military service could still negatively impact public trust and national interests.
According to Chosun, after another rejection in June 2024, Yoo filed his third lawsuit in September of the same year.
In the first ruling in the case, the court sided with the singer, stating that the disadvantages to him were too excessive compared to the public benefit obtained by blocking his entry. The court said maintaining an effective lifetime entry ban on Yoo raised concerns about fairness and proportionality.
The judges also noted that its current activities and presence are unlikely to threaten South Korea’s national security or public welfare.
However, the court also stressed that the ruling did not mean that Yoo’s past actions were appropriate. He instead focused on the question of whether continued visa refusals remained legally reasonable after so many years.
The Los Angeles consulate appealed the ruling, bringing the case back to court once again.
