"Some South Korean Lawmakers' Visa Denials Linked to Past Actions"

[Anchor]

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has addressed the recent issues regarding the denial and delay of visa issuances for certain ruling party lawmakers. He suggested that the matter is related to the past actions of some lawmakers decades ago.

Reporting from Washington, this is Lee Hanseok.

[Reporter]

Following the G20 foreign ministers' meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio directly addressed the controversy surrounding the denial and delay of visas for South Korean lawmakers.

He stated that the issue is intertwined with the past actions of specific individuals from decades ago.

[Marco Rubio / U.S. Secretary of State: I think there may have been cases where there were issues related to the actions of certain visa holders about 20 years ago.]

This remark suggests that the National Security Act violation record of Jin Sung-joon, chairperson of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee—who was sentenced to three years in prison and a three-year suspension of qualifications in 1991—was reflected in the screening process.

Chairperson Jin applied for a U.S. visit visa to visit the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on behalf of the National Assembly's Defense Committee, but the controversy arose after the U.S. side denied the visa issuance on October 28.

Yesterday (October 31), the U.S. side reissued an official visa, and Chairperson Jin departed for the United States as scheduled this afternoon.

Earlier, lawmaker Chung Chong-rae, a former leader of the Democratic Party, also attempted to visit the U.S. last month for a parliamentary audit of the South Korean Embassy in the U.S., but had to abruptly change his itinerary due to a delayed visa issuance.

Regarding questions about whether the successive visa issuance controversies involving South Korean ruling party lawmakers could spark tensions in the South Korea-U.S. alliance, Secretary Rubio stated that the issue should be resolved through official bilateral channels rather than a press conference.

(Video: Park Eunha, Video Editing: Kim Hojin)

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[Anchor]

Let's connect to Washington to look further into this matter.

Reporter Lee Hanseok. Both lawmaker Chung Chong-rae and Chairperson Jin Sung-joon appear to have had no major issues getting U.S. visas in the past, so why are these incidents happening exclusively this time?

[Reporter]

On the surface, the U.S. explanation is that visa screening regulations were applied mechanically, but it is also necessary to examine the diplomatic context.

In the past, when incumbent lawmakers visited the U.S. on official business, approval procedures were customarily expedited to issue visas.

However, this time, it appears that National Defense Committee Chairperson Jin's National Security Act violations from the early 1990s triggered disqualification flags in the electronic system, which became the issue.

Notably, Secretary Rubio mentioned during his press conference that this is a matter to be resolved through bilateral consultations rather than something to be publicly contested.

Analysts suggest this serves as a clear line-drawn message that the U.S. will not be dragged into public pushback or public relations warfare by South Korean political circles amid subtle friction in recent South Korea-U.S. relations, while also signaling a warning that strict legal and security verification standards will be applied even to allies.

[Anchor]

Meanwhile, both President Trump and Secretary Rubio have left the door open regarding the possibility of North Korea-U.S. dialogue, haven't they?

[Reporter]

Let's first listen to what Secretary Rubio had to say regarding a North Korea-U.S. summit.

[Marco Rubio / U.S. Secretary of State: The core of it is that President Trump, as he has repeatedly stated publicly, is prepared to engage in such talks.]

Secretary Rubio explained that President Trump does not view dialogue or meetings themselves as concessions to the other party. President Trump expressed his intention to keep the door to dialogue open—stating that despite North Korea being identified as the culprit behind a cryptocurrency exchange hacking incident exceeding 6 billion dollars, he will not condemn North Korea and instead intends to talk with North Korea over the issue.

(On-site Coverage: Park Eunha, Video Editing: Oh Youngtaek)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.