US visa issuance delay emerges as political wrangling over alliance

The delay of U.S. visa issuance for a ruling party lawmaker has become a topic of debate between rival parties over whether it is a sign of growing friction in the Korea-U.S. alliance.

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) called the incident a clear sign of eroded trust within the alliance.

"It is a symbolic moment that clearly exposes the widening rift in the Korea-U.S. alliance and the total breakdown of trust between the two countries,” Rep. Park Sung-hoon, senior spokesperson for the PPP, said in a statement Saturday.

“It is an unprecedented diplomatic embarrassment and a national disgrace that the chairman of Korea's parliamentary defense committee was required to submit an English translation of a past National Security Act conviction and a criminal record check to the U.S., our ally, before finally receiving entry permission,” Park wrote.

Park's statement came after Rep. Jin Sung-joon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the chairman of the Assembly's National Defense Committee, announced that his visa was issued belatedly, a day before the committee's planned departure for the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii.

Jin said Wednesday that he received a visa refusal notice and expressed regret, saying his trip was not personal but official, aimed at meeting government and military officials in the U.S.

The exact reason for the denial was unknown, but some observers assumed that it was in relation to the lawmaker’s 1980s violation of the National Security Law, which is common among former pro-democracy protesters.

Jin's was the second such case, as former DPK leader Rep. Jung Chung-rae also had visa delays last month, eventually forcing him to change his parliamentary inspection itinerary to Europe. Jung was involved in anti-U.S. activities in the 1980s.

"Jin may board the plane to Hawaii as if nothing happened, but it does not remove the current shaky state of the alliance," Park wrote.

The DPK pushed back against the claims, accusing the PPP of politicizing the issue rather than supporting parliamentary duties.

"When legitimate parliamentary activities have been hindered, how can the PPP attack their own fellow lawmaker? The PPP has no interest in protecting the national interest," Rep. Lee Ju-hee, floor spokesperson for the DPK, said in a statement Saturday, urging the PPP to apologize for politicizing the matter.

DPK spokesperson Shin Hyun-young also said the PPP "should refrain from making remarks that would harm the Korea-U.S. alliance or trying to drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington.”

As to the visa issue, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, implied that it was an “individual” case based on past behavior.

“I think there was one particular visa individually that there was an issue about regarding behavior, perhaps a couple of decades ago. But we'll work through that at a bilateral basis, not in a press conference,” Rubio told reporters Saturday (local time) during a press conference following a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta.

His comments came after he had a meeting with Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, who said last week before his departure to the U.S. that he would discuss the issue with Rubio.