Steve Yoo denies seeking pardon, says he doesn’t know source of fans’ statement
Yoo Seung-jun / Xportsnews
Singer Yoo Seung-jun, also known as Steve Yoo, is denying involvement in a statement calling for his pardon.
“I have never wanted a pardon, and I don’t even know the source of the statement that was submitted," Yoo wrote Wednesday on social media.
“Even my official fan club said it’s not their position and that they know nothing about it. Why do I have to experience this discomfort because of a statement submitted by someone I don’t even know?”
Yoo also addressed speculation about his motives. “I don’t know why some people insist on twisting things just because that’s all they have in their heads. I have no desire whatsoever to make money in Korea. Some people seem to believe that if I go, someone will be waiting for me with bundles of cash. I wanted to enter the country to restore my honor.”
Calling the current climate “a frightening world where the real becomes fake and the fake becomes real,” Yoo stressed, “The law should be equal for everyone, and fairness must not be compromised.”
The comments come after a group on DC Inside’s “Yoo Seung-jun Gallery” released a statement on Tuesday calling on President Lee Jae Myung to pardon the singer.
Yoo has been banned from entering South Korea since 2002, when he left for an overseas concert shortly before his scheduled enlistment, then renounced his Korean citizenship to acquire U.S. citizenship. The move sparked allegations of draft evasion, leading the Ministry of Justice to put him on a no-entry list.
In 2015, he applied at the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles for an F-4 visa, the Overseas Korean visa, which would allow him to live and work in Korea, but was denied. He has since won two administrative lawsuits seeking to overturn the decision, but his most recent visa application was again rejected.
Yoo has filed a third administrative suit against the consulate in LA and the justice minister. In the second hearing of the ongoing case, the justice ministry maintained that his entry could not be permitted.
This article from Xportsnews is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.