US to Resolve South Korean Lawmaker Visa Issue, Rubio Says, Citing 'Decades-Old Actions'

[Anchor]

Democratic lawmaker Jin Sung-joon, chairman of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, whose US visa application was previously denied, received his visa yesterday (Oct. 31), just one day before his scheduled business trip. The issue was resolved after twists and turns that even involved Foreign Minister Cho Hyun stepping in. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the problem likely stemmed from issues related to Jin's actions decades ago and promised to resolve the visa matter between South Korea and the US.

Reporter Park Chan-beom has the details.

[Reporter]

The National Assembly Defense Committee delegation was scheduled to begin its visit to the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii starting today.

The visa was issued yesterday, just one day before the trip and three days after the US side rejected the diplomatic visa application for Defense Committee Chairman Jin Sung-joon, a Democratic lawmaker.

Jin posted on social media, saying, "It is fortunate that it was issued belatedly," and added, "I will faithfully discuss measures for South Korea-US security cooperation."

During a press conference at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, local time yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "It was probably because of an issue related to actions from decades ago," and stated that the visa issue concerning South Korean lawmakers would be resolved through bilateral consultations between South Korea and the US.

Previously, at the request of the US side, Chairman Jin had even submitted a ruling document related to his 1991 violation of the National Security Act.

The ruling People Power Party criticized the incident as a diplomatic humiliation that exposed a crack in the South Korea-US alliance, even though the visa was eventually granted. In response, the Democratic Party fired back, calling it flunkyism to corner a domestic lawmaker before blaming the US.

[Cho Hyun / Foreign Minister (Oct. 27): "I am scheduled to go to the US the day after tomorrow to meet with Secretary Rubio, so I will raise the issue then as well."]

While the Foreign Minister's intervention managed to put out the immediate fire regarding the visa issue, differences in perspective regarding China and North Korea policies emerged during the trilateral foreign ministers' meeting between South Korea, the US, and Japan.

In its briefing statement, the US Department of State explicitly specified "coercive behavior in the Yellow Sea" for the first time, emphasizing deterrence against China—a content absent from the briefing releases of South Korea and Japan.

Regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, the US and Japan referred to "the complete denuclearization of North Korea," while South Korea used the expression "peace, stability, and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." Some interpret that the South Korean government refrained from directly mentioning "North Korea" in order to ease tensions and foster an atmosphere for dialogue.

(Video by Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Lee Seung-jin | Graphics by Park Cheon-woong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.