An appellate court has ruled against the government's decision to reject a visa for Korean American singer Yoo Seung-jun, also known as Steve Yoo.

The Seoul High Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling in a lawsuit Yoo filed against the South Korean consul general in Los Angeles and sided with the plaintiff, ordering the government to reverse its decision.

The singer's entry into South Korea has been restricted since 2002 after he obtained U.S. citizenship in a bid to evade mandatory military service. He filed his first suit in 2015 when he was denied a visa for overseas Koreans, ultimately winning the case as the Supreme Court at the time ruled the rejection was against the law.

However, the singer was again denied a visa, after which he filed a second suit in 2020 citing the top court ruling.

Diplomatic authorities contend the Supreme Court verdict was not an order to issue a visa but rather found fault with a lack of procedural legality in the visa rejection.

The high court said that while a visa can be denied for anyone who renounced their South Korean citizenship for the purpose of dodging military service, such a reason is applicable only up to the age of 38 when conscription ends.

Yoo was past the conscription age at the time of his 2015 lawsuit.