After his banishment from South Korea in 2002, Yoo made his residence in
Beijing, China. Soon after, he moved back to the U.S. to live in
Los Angeles County, California. Yoo married Christine Oh in 2004, during the height of his celebrity days. He featured his skills on Korean TV shows of the time. In 2010, when he was invited as a guest on the show
Asia Uncut, he stated he (at the time of filming) held a 3rd
Dan black belt.
Banishment from South Korea Yoo had repeatedly stated on television that he would fulfill his
mandatory military service. During his physical examination in August 2001, Yoo was given a grade 4 rank, the lowest passing rank to enter the military, due to having a surgery for a
herniated disc that resulted from a music video shoot for his fifth album. In 2011, in response to an announcement by South Korean television network
Seoul Broadcasting System on holding a public poll on whether South Koreans thought Yoo should be allowed to come back to South Korea, he said he had no plan to return. On May 19, 2015, Yoo held a live stream through
AfreecaTV apologizing to the Korean public and addressing his reasons for pursuing citizenship in the United States. He promised to complete his military service, but, by that time, he was 39 years old in
Korean years (38 years old) and had passed the age limit for being able to serve. In 2020, Mo Jung-hwa, the chief of the Military Manpower Administration, stated that Yoo appearing on South Korean broadcasts as a figure in the entertainment industry would create a "risk of lowering the morale" of South Korean citizens performing military service and affect their "willingness" to fulfill their duties.
Kim Byung-joo, a politician from the
Democratic Party of Korea, proposed the Yoo Seung-jun Prevention Act, which would ban people who had given up their South Korean citizenship before fulfilling their military service from entering South Korea. Yoo responded and criticized this on his YouTube channel. Yoo then filed a lawsuit disputing the rejection in October of the same year. He submitted an appeal in October 2016. On July 11, 2019, the South Korean Supreme Court sent Yoo's previously closed case back to the Seoul High Court. On November 15, 2019, an appeals court reversed its earlier decision and ruled in favor of Yoo. Following this, Yoo attempted to apply for a visa again, but the Consulate General of Los Angeles again rejected the application on July 2, 2019, causing him to file a second lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court in October 2020. On April 28, 2022, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled against Yoo, stating that the previous ruling was due to "procedural flaws." On July 13, 2023, the Seoul High Court overturned the Seoul Administrative Court ruling. On November 30, 2023, the Seoul High Court ruled in favor of Yoo, stating that there was "no just cause" to deny him a visa. However, the court ruling was separate from the South Korean government's ban, and Yoo attaining a visa did not indicate he would be allowed back into the country. In September 2024, Yoo's request for a visa was denied for a third time. == Discography ==