3rd appeals trial begins for former K-pop star Steve Yoo over visa denial

The third appeals trial over a visa denial for singer Steve Yoo, better known in Korea as Yoo Seung-jun, against the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles opened Friday, with a ruling scheduled for Sept. 4. The Seoul High Court held the first hearing to review the visa denial for the singer. Consulate representatives said the requested overseas Korean visa — known as an F-4 — grants privileges nearly identical to citizenship. They called Yoo an "icon of draft evasion" in Korean society and questioned granting such benefits to someone who renounced his citizenship to avoid conscription. Yoo's lawyers said the government is ignoring the rule of law to appease public sentiment. They said officials have repeated the same arguments for 10 years without addressing previous Supreme Court rulings in Yoo's favor. Yoo debuted in Korea in 1997 and publicly promised to fulfill his mandatory military service. However, he left the country in January 2002 for an overseas performance and acquired U.S. citizenship, dodging the draft. As domestic criticism mounted, the Ministry of Justice banned hisWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times