After decades of controversy, Steve Yoo says returning to Korea no longer matters

More than two decades after one of South Korea's most infamous celebrity scandals, singer Steve Yoo, better known in Korea as Yoo Seung-jun, says he has finally let go of his long-running fight to return.

The former K-pop star, whose 2002 acquisition of U.S. citizenship sparked a national controversy over military service obligations, said he no longer sees much point in pursuing a return to Korea.

On Thursday, Yoo uploaded a video to his YouTube channel titled "I've done all I can.

I'm going to stop now," where he reflected on years of public criticism and legal battles surrounding his entry ban. "Now, entering Korea doesn't carry much meaning," Yoo said. "I've spoken this much about lies and truth, explained my situation and everything that happened, but it seems my sincerity and my feelings still haven't been properly understood." Yoo became one of South Korea's biggest pop stars in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

However, in 2002, shortly before he was due to begin mandatory military service, he left the country and later obtained U.S. citizenship, effectively exempting himself from