Court rejects pop star’s bid to return to South Korea
Print Edition
POP singer Steve Yoo, known in South Korea as Yoo Seung-Joon, has lost his bid to be allowed back into the country.
Yoo was vilified for giving up his South Korean citizenship in 2002 and becoming a naturalized US citizen to avoid military service.
The South Korean government considered it an act of desertion and he was deported and banned from returning for life.
In a bid to overturn the ban, Yoo filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court, challenging the decision of a South Korean consulate in the United States to deny him a visa.
But the court ruled against him yesterday.
“If Yoo returns to South Korea and resumes activities, it will demoralize soldiers who are devoting themselves to serving the country, while provoking teenagers to evade the conscription,” the Yonhap news agency quoted the ruling as saying.
For many, the two-year duty is an unwanted and deeply resented intrusion that interferes with studies or nascent careers and serves no discernible purpose, especially in a rapidly-aging society where the size of the workforce is dwindling.
Hundreds try to avoid the draft every year, using tactics that range from extended overseas study, to starving themselves so they fail the medical exam.
Other examples include the members of a break-dancing troupe arrested for pretending to have mental disorders, and a student who intentionally dislocated his shoulder and underwent surgery so as to fail the medical.
Some years ago, there was a mini-fad for large tattoos, which carry an organized-crime association in South Korea and can result in people being declared unsuitable for military service.
The loophole was effectively closed by a series of arrests of young men opting for last-minute all-body tattoos, who were then charged with “wilfully tampering” with their bodies to avoid service and jailed.
Celebrities can face a powerful public backlash if they are seen to be flouting military regulations in any way.
Pop icon Rain was pilloried after it emerged he had been allowed to slip out of barracks on several occasions to meet an actress he was dating.
And “Gangnam Style” star Psy was forced to serve twice after he was found to have been furthering his showbiz interests during his first stint.
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