Ms. Kim (45), who immigrated to the United States in her 20s and married a Korean man, recently learned that her adult son holds dual citizenship.
When her son, Kim (20), applied for a visa to visit Korea using his U.S. passport, he was informed during his interview at the Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles that a visa could not be issued to him because he holds dual citizenship. He was advised to obtain a Korean passport in order to travel to Korea.
“To apply for exceptional Nationality-Renunciation Permission for my son, we first have to register our marriage in Korea and then register our son’s birth,” said Kim. She added, “Even after completing these procedures, there is no guarantee that my son’s exceptional Nationality-Renunciation will be approved.”
Although the South Korean nationality law, initially designed to limit the ability of second-generation overseas Koreans to renounce their Korean nationality, was revised in December 2022, it remains challenging to process and obtain approval for renouncing Korean citizenship after the age of 18.
Second-generation Korean American men born with dual citizenship, along with their parents, are calling for a fundamental revision of the nationality law, including expanding the reasons for renouncing Korean citizenship after the age of 18.
The South Korean nationality law, revised in 2010, allows for multiple citizenships and introduces a nationality selection order system.
Men born after June 14, 1998, who have dual citizenship, must renounce their Korean citizenship before March 31 of the year they turn 18 to be exempt from mandatory military service. If they fail to do so, they will not be able to renounce their Korean citizenship until they turn 38, unless they have completed their military service in Korea.
The innate multiple citizenship system for second-generation overseas Koreans has faced criticism in the United States and South Korea due to its undesirable consequences. Second-generation Korean American men who missed the opportunity to renounce their Korean citizenship before the age of 18 face disadvantages when applying for key positions in the U.S. military, intelligence agencies (FBI, CIA, etc.), and senior government positions.
In particular, the innate multiple citizenship system, lack of awareness about the Korean citizenship renunciation process, and complicated administrative procedures for late renunciation have created difficulties for overseas Koreans.
A recent amendment to the South Korean nationality law allows second-generation Korean American men to apply to South Korea’s Ministry of Justice for exceptional renunciation if they were unable to renounce their Korean citizenship before the age of 18 due to unavoidable circumstances.
However, the conditions for exceptional renunciation are strict. Applicants must have been born abroad and have their primary place of residence in a foreign country. They must have moved to a foreign country as a child under the age of six and have lived there since then. They must not have enjoyed the rights of a citizen of the Republic of Korea for a significant period of time, and they must have been unable to renounce their citizenship within three months of their Preliminary Military Service for socially justifiable reasons.
Even if these conditions are met, the process remains complex. Fifteen documents, including a Notification of Loss of Nationality, are required. After submitting the documents, they still need to be reviewed by the Minister of Justice and the Nationality Review Committee.
Jong-Joon Chun, an attorney at a Washington law firm who filed a constitutional petition on the innate multiple citizenship system and is campaigning for an “Attainment of Nationality system and automatic nationality expungement system” (yeschange.org), argues that “innate multiple citizenship holders who have not registered their birth in Korea and whose main residence is overseas should automatically lose their Korean citizenship.”
The current citizenship law is also known as the “Hong Joon-pyo Law.” It was amended in 2005 after a controversy surrounding singer Steve Sueng Jun Yoo’s attempts to avoid military service by acquiring citizenship. The law was introduced by then-Representative Hong Joon-pyo (now the mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City in Korea).
The purpose of the law was to prevent individuals from evading military service by acquiring citizenship through foreign birth. Prior to the enactment of the law, South Koreans automatically lost their citizenship when acquiring U.S. citizenship.
“The current citizenship law is causing harm to many second-generation Korean Americans because it is intended to prevent individuals born with multiple nationalities living in Korea from avoiding military service,” said Chun. He added, “The law should be revised to allow innate multiple citizens living abroad to renounce their Korean citizenship at any time of their choosing.”
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
