U.S. visa delay forces senior Korean lawmaker to reroute parliamentary audit trip

The United States delayed issuing a visa to Rep. Jung Chung-rae of the ruling Democratic Party (DP), according to political sources on Thursday, forcing the veteran lawmaker to switch a planned parliamentary audit visit from the United States to Europe.

This has prompted speculation that the delay was due to Jung’s past participation in an anti-American demonstration as a student activist, as well as to strains in Seoul-Washington ties over several pending issues.

Jung, a former leader of the ruling DP and a member of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, had applied for a U.S. visa to attend parliamentary audits scheduled for Monday, including one on the Korean Embassy in Washington.

Unlike other members of the committee, however, Jung had not received his visa. He switched his audit destination to Europe on Thursday, just days before the scheduled proceedings in the United States.

When asked about the delay, the U.S. State Department said Thursday that all visa applications are reviewed on a case-by-case basis under U.S. law.

The U.S. State Department also declined to clarify to the JoongAng Ilbo whether Jung's visa application had been formally denied or to explain the reason for the delay, saying it could not comment on actions taken in specific visa cases.

The department also noted that the Trump administration upholds the highest standards of national security and public safety in the visa process, and outlined its criteria and priorities for granting U.S. entry visas.

"I was scheduled to join the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee delegation for parliamentary audits in the United States, Brazil, Colombia and Canada," Jung wrote on Facebook on Thursday. "However, I was told that my U.S. visa application was still under review by the State Department as of today."

"I had to urgently request a transfer to the European delegation," he said. "I don't know why. I've already traveled to the United States twice on official visits, so this is unfortunate and regrettable."

This is not the first time a delay in the issuance of Jung’s U.S. visa has forced him to change his official travel schedule.

Jung also failed to obtain a U.S. visa in October 2013, when he was serving his second term as a lawmaker and was assigned to the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee delegation on a visit to the Americas.

As a result, he withdrew from the delegation and instead joined the group visiting Europe.

The latest visa delay has also fueled speculation that Jung's history as a student activist may have played a role, as he was a member of the National Council of Student Representatives, widely known in Korean as Jeondaehyop.

In 1989, the group led a sit-in occupation of the U.S. ambassador's residence in Seoul. Jung was sentenced to two years in prison for violating the National Security Act in connection with the incident.

This led some in the conservative opposition People Power Party last year to label Jung a “terrorist who can’t go to America.”

Jung’s visa delay has also raised further concerns about strained Korea-U.S. relations, following reports that the United States excluded Korea’s National Intelligence Service from a trilateral meeting on North Korean cyberthreats.

BY KANG TAE-HWA [[email protected]]