Steve Yoo [SCREEN CAPTURE]
Korea's Ministry of Justice is moving to enshrine in law a permanent entry ban on individuals who evaded mandatory military service, with officials citing the decades-long case of Korean-American singer Steve Seung-jun Yoo as a catalyst.
Cha Yong-ho, commissioner of the ministry's Korea Immigration Service, announced the plan at the ministry's monthly work meeting on Friday.
"We will clearly define the legal grounds under the Immigration Act for barring entry to those who evaded military service and caused public controversy, such as in the case of Steve Yoo," Cha said.
The ministry plans to revise the Immigration Act's enforcement regulations to explicitly list military service evaders as a category subject to entry bans — a step officials say is needed to close a legal gap that has allowed repeated court challenges to the ban.
"Enjoying the full rights of a Korean citizen, avoiding military duty, renouncing citizenship, and then returning to seek personal gain — that is antisocial conduct, and one could call it outright unpatriotic," said Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho, directing officials to conduct a comprehensive legal review of entry bans on military evaders.
Yoo debuted in Korea in 1997 and publicly pledged on television to complete his mandatory military service. In January 2002, he left the country for a performance engagement and subsequently obtained U.S. citizenship, which exempted him from service.
The Justice Ministry responded by restricting his entry, citing provisions against individuals deemed likely to harm national interests or public safety.
Yoo applied for an overseas Korean (F-4) visa at the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles but was rejected.
He filed suit to overturn the refusal and won at the Supreme Court. The consulate again declined to issue the visa, and litigation has continued. A second-instance appeal in the third round of legal proceedings is currently underway.
By codifying the entry ban in statute, the ministry aims to put future cases on firmer legal footing and reduce the scope for further court challenges.
In the same meeting, the ministry also announced plans to finalize reforms to Korea's breach of trust statute by next month.
Jung said there was broad agreement on the need to give business executives "greater latitude in making management decisions," and called on relevant bureaus to move faster on the reforms.
Lee Eung-cheol, director general of the ministry's prosecution bureau, said officials had analyzed more than 3,300 court rulings from the past five years alongside academic research and commissioned studies. A draft bill is under discussion with academics and advisory committee members, with a reform proposal expected to be finalized within June.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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