Jung Chung-rae's U.S. Visa Withheld: "A Public Signal of Distrust from the U.S."

It has been confirmed that the issuance of a U.S. visa for Representative Jung Chung-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, was not granted just ahead of the overseas parliamentary audit.

The U.S. Department of State has not yet issued a visa for Representative Jung.

Jung is a member of the committee's Americas audit team, which oversees South Korea's diplomatic missions in the Americas. The Americas team was scheduled to conduct audits of overseas diplomatic missions from October 11 to 22 on a 9-night, 12-day itinerary visiting the United States, Brazil, Colombia, and Canada.

Because of this, Jung inevitably had to urgently change his assignment to the European audit team covering Europe.

The other six lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's Americas team have reportedly either completed the visa issuance process or are scheduled to depart using visa-free electronic travel authorizations.

In a post on Facebook, Jung stated, "I was scheduled to participate in the parliamentary audit as part of the Americas team, but I received a report from my aide that my U.S. visa is currently still under review by the State Department," adding, "Since it is still under review, I inevitably decided to go to the European parliamentary audit," and "I do not really know the reason. It is regrettable."

Previously, Jung visited the United States as a lawmaker in 2012 and 2014, but failed to receive a U.S. visa as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's Americas team in October 2013, when he was a two-term lawmaker.

Democratic Party Leader Kim Min-seok posted on Facebook, "I express deep regret over the delay in visa issuance for the immediate former ruling party leader and highly trusted four-term senior lawmaker," adding, "I hope that the South Korean and U.S. diplomatic authorities will step forward quickly and actively to resolve this issue. The party will also continue to monitor the situation."

In response, independent Representative Han Dong-hoon, who is assigned to the Americas team, claimed on Facebook, "The United States has refused entry to the immediate former leader of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party for a parliamentary audit," adding, "Following the National Intelligence Service Director Lee Jong-suk incident and the NIS 'white agent' incident, this cannot be seen as anything other than a serious, public signal of distrust sent by the United States to the Lee Jae-myung administration."

Reported by Lee Ho-geon | Video edited by Kim Bok-hyeong | Design by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.