Actor Steve Yoo attends the 'Da Bing Xiao Jiang' Photocall during day six of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 16, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images/Pascal Le Segretain)
Former K-Pop star Yoo Seung Joon, popular by the name Steve Yoo, has once again expressed his intention to return to South Korea. The Korean-American moved to the United States and gave up his citizenship in a bid to avoid Korea's mandatory military service.
On Dec. 22, Thursday, Yoo's representatives went up against the Korean consulate in Los Angeles over the rejection of the popstar's visa. The case has now made its way to the Seoul High Court after the singer appealed against the court's decision to rule in the favor of the Consulate and reject his lawsuit to re-enter the country.
Yoo was criticized for giving up his nationality and becoming an American citizen just as he was called up for military service in 2002. The South Korean government deemed it as an act of desertion and the singer was deported and banned from entering into the country permanently, according to The Straits Times.
The popstar is now demanding an answer to why he is being singled out and why he is the only individual who has been indefinitely banned from entering Korea. In a statement obtained by All Kpop, Yoo's lawyers have asked the courts to explain why the singer's visa has been rejected.
"It's been 14 years, so we want to hear the legal explanation for why the prohibition of entry must continue, and why the prohibition is indefinite," Yoo's lawyers stated. "The lower court's ruling was based on 2002's standards, and we want to know if those standards still apply in 2016."
In September, the popstar's lawsuit challenging the embassy's rejection of his Korean visa was dismissed in the The Seoul Administrative Court. At the time, the judge ruled that if the singer is permitted to re-enter Korea after obtaining U.S. citizenship to avoid military service, it would encourage others to follow suit and therefore the visa issue rejection was justified.
However, Yoo's reps have argued that 17,229 individuals have evaded Korea's mandatory military service in the last five years, but Yoo is the only individual who has been banned from entering the country. The representatives called this discrimination "unreasonable" and said that the continuance of the prohibition for a decade-and-a-half was cruel and unjust.
The pop star has even gone to the extent of getting down on his knees and apologizing to the citizens of Korea. Watch the video below:
