Foreign Ministry says Jung Chung-rae's US visa delay should not be linked to broader bilateral ties

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday it would be inappropriate to interpret the delayed US visa issuance for Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Jung Chung-rae as a reflection of the broader state of South Korea-US relations, adding that the reasons for the delay are difficult to confirm because the United States does not disclose individual visa screening details.

"South Korea and the United States are communicating closely and cooperating on a wide range of issues," the Foreign Ministry said. "We do not think it is appropriate to link an individual visa matter to the overall state of the South Korea-US relationship."

The ministry also said that individual visa applications and their outcomes are treated as confidential under US domestic law and procedures, making it difficult to verify related facts. It added that it cannot confirm the specific reasons for the delay, as the United States does not disclose the details of individual visa screenings.

Jung, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, had originally been assigned to the Americas audit team, which was scheduled to visit the United States and other countries Monday and Tuesday to conduct a national audit of South Korean diplomatic missions in the region, including the South Korean Embassy in Washington. However, because his US visa had not been issued by Thursday — unlike other ruling and opposition lawmakers on the same team — he switched to the European audit team.

Jung conducted a national audit in the United States in 2012 and visited the country as a lawmaker in 2014. In 2013, however, he was assigned to the Americas team of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee but was unable to obtain a US visa. He was previously imprisoned on charges of violating the National Security Act after leading a sit-in occupation of the US ambassador's residence in 1989.

The ruling and opposition parties offered sharply different takes on the visa delay. The People Power Party said in a statement Friday it questioned whether Jung's past anti-American activities, failures in the government and ruling party's diplomacy toward the United States, and cracks in the credibility of the South Korea-US alliance may have played a role.

The Democratic Party urged both South Korean and US diplomatic authorities to resolve the issue, saying that "restricting even the national audit of an ally's National Assembly runs counter to the forward-looking values of the alliance."