Jung Chung-rae Heads to Europe Amid U.S. Visa Delay: "Unfortunate and Regrettable"

[Anchor]

Democratic Party Representative Jung Chung-rae, a member of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee in charge of auditing overseas diplomatic missions, has had to change his audit destination after failing to obtain a U.S. visa. The United States has reportedly delayed issuing the visa without providing a clear reason.

Reporter Go Jeong-hyeon reports.

[Reporter]

Yesterday, three days before ruling and opposition lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's Americas audit team were scheduled to depart on a nine-night, 12-day itinerary to audit overseas diplomatic missions including the South Korean Embassy in the United States.

Representative Jung Chung-rae of the Democratic Party stated on social media, "I received a report from my aide that my U.S. visa is currently still under review by the State Department," adding, "Unable to wait any longer in a state that is neither approved nor denied, I urgently applied to switch to the Europe audit team."

This means that because his U.S. visa was not issued, he changed his assignment from the Americas team, which oversees the United States and surrounding areas, to the Europe team, which covers Europe.

Representative Jung said, "I do not really know the reason. I have already traveled to the U.S. on official business twice before, so this is unfortunate and regrettable."

However, Representative Jung was also assigned to the committee's Americas audit team in October 2013, but was unable to receive a U.S. visa then as well, leading him to switch to the Europe team to carry out the parliamentary audit.

As a university student in 1989, Representative Jung was convicted after occupying the U.S. ambassador's residence and attempting to set it on fire.

Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok said, "I express deep regret over the visa delay for the former ruling party leader, a respected four-term veteran lawmaker," adding, "I hope the diplomatic authorities of South Korea and the United States will step forward promptly and actively to resolve this issue."

The People Power Party criticized the government, citing the visa delays for Representative Jung and National Intelligence Service personnel scheduled to be dispatched to the South Korean Embassy in the U.S., and stating that concerns are spreading beyond visa issues to overall security cooperation in the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Video by Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.