A person who held dual citizenship in Korea and the United States and stayed in the United States for 19 days over seven years filed a lawsuit to renounce Korean citizenship but lost in the first trial.
The Administrative Division 6 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Na Jin-yi) said on the 12th that it recently ruled against the plaintiff in a suit filed by dual citizen A against the Ministry of Justice seeking to overturn the rejection of a report on renouncing citizenship.
A was born in 2005 to a Korean mother and an American father. Holding both nationalities by default, A entered Korea in Aug. 2015. From then, A lived with parents and attended an international school.
Then, seven years later, in Jun. 2022, A left for the United States and submitted a report to the Ministry of Justice stating, "I will renounce my Korean citizenship." A returned to Korea again in Jul. of the same year.
However, in Sep. of the following year, the Ministry of Justice rejected A's filing, citing, among other reasons, failure to meet the requirement of having a foreign address. Article 14 of the Nationality Act stipulates that a dual citizen may renounce Korean nationality and choose a foreign nationality only "when having an address abroad."
A then filed an administrative suit asking the court to revoke the ministry's decision. A said the report to renounce citizenship "listed as the address the residence where my father lives while working in the United States," and argued, "Even though I met the requirement of having an address abroad, the Ministry of Justice rejected the filing, which is unlawful."
A also said, "The public interest concerns arising from my renunciation are minimal, but if renunciation is not permitted, my freedom of occupation will be infringed because I cannot become a U.S. federal civil servant," asserting that the ministry's decision exceeded and abused its discretion.
The court did not accept A's arguments. The panel found, "There is insufficient basis to conclude that, at the time of filing the report to renounce nationality, A had a basis of living in the United States." In determining whether the requirement of "having an address abroad" is met, it comprehensively considered where the actual basis of living was, whether the stay in Korea was due to temporary or incidental reasons, and whether there were objective circumstances indicating an imminent return abroad.
The panel also pointed out that the total period A stayed in the United States from Aug. 2015, when A entered Korea, to Jun. 2022, when A left to apply for renunciation, amounted to only 19 days. On that basis, the panel said, "Given that A lived with parents in Korea for most of the period, Korea can be seen as the actual basis of living at the time of the renunciation application."
In addition, the panel did not accept A's claim that the ministry's decision exceeded and abused its discretion.