Cho Hyun: "Will Raise 'Jung Chung-rae Visa Issue' with US Rubio"

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun stated that he will directly discuss with high-level U.S. officials the issue regarding Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Jung Chung-rae failing to travel to the United States due to delayed visa issuance while attempting to obtain a visa to inspect the South Korean Embassy in the U.S. during a parliamentary audit.

During the audit today (October 27), when Democratic Party lawmaker Hong Ki-won commented, "There is a possibility that high-ranking officials in the U.S. State Department are unaware of this issue," Cho replied, "Coincidentally, I am scheduled to visit the United States the day after tomorrow and meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio," adding, "I will raise the issue at that time as well."

Minister Cho is scheduled to visit Atlanta in the United States from October 29 to November 2 to attend the Group of 20 (G20) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and a meeting with Secretary Rubio is currently being coordinated.

Cho stated that he had also directly raised the matter with the U.S. Embassy in Seoul on October 8, when Representative Jung's visa issue was first made public, saying, "If the foreign minister personally raised this issue (with the embassy), I believe it was pressed quite strongly."

He lamented, "However, the U.S. visa—it is difficult to even call it a policy—the visa-related measures are somewhat chaotic. They say they don't even know why it is happening and that there is nothing they can do," adding, "When looking at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and its conduct, there are many things that defy common sense."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.