Yoo Seung-jun's third visa lawsuit heads to appeals court after partial first-instance win

An appeals court hearing opened Friday in the third administrative lawsuit over visa issuance for singer Yoo Seung-jun (Steve Seung-jun Yoo, 48), who has been barred from entering South Korea over draft evasion allegations.

The Seoul High Court's Administrative Division 8-2, presided over by judges Kim Bong-won, Lee Young-chang and Choi Bong-hee, held the first appellate pleading session at 11:20 a.m. Friday in the case Yoo filed against the Consulate General of Korea in Los Angeles seeking to overturn its refusal to issue him a visa.

Yoo had pledged to serve in the South Korean military while active as a singer in the country, but instead obtained US citizenship to avoid his military obligation and has been barred from entering South Korea since 2002.

Beginning in 2015, Yoo filed suit seeking to nullify the consulate's repeated visa denials and won consecutive rulings in his favor at the Supreme Court.

Despite those rulings, the consul general in Los Angeles and diplomatic authorities have continued to deny the visa, citing potential harm to the national interest and public welfare.

In the first instance of this third lawsuit, Yoo again won a partial victory. The court acknowledged that his past conduct was not appropriate but ruled that the disadvantages imposed on him by the ongoing visa denial were disproportionately severe.

The LA consulate appealed that ruling, bringing the case to the second instance now underway.