A Seoul court has ruled in favor of Korean-American singer Steve Yoo in his fight to reenter the country after being denied a residence visa for renouncing his South Korean citizenship to evade mandatory military duty.

The Seoul Administrative Court on Thursday sided with Yoo in his third administrative lawsuit against the South Korean consulate general in Los Angeles, saying the decision is an abuse of discretion that should be reversed since there are no grounds for it.

But the court said its verdict does not mean it considers Yoo’s past conduct appropriate.

It also dismissed a separate lawsuit in which Yoo sought to invalidate the justice ministry’s decision to impose an entry ban in 2002, saying the matter is not subject to the court’s judgment.

Yoo, who debuted as Yoo Seung-jun in 1997, obtained American citizenship while visiting the U.S. to perform in January 2002, after he received his military draft notice.

The move involved Yoo renouncing his South Korean citizenship, and he faced public backlash and accusations of evading military duty, prompting the justice ministry to bar him from reentering the country.

Yoo sued the consulate in 2015 and 2020 and won both times, but the consulate has repeatedly refused to respect the rulings.