[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court has ruled that the authorities' decision to reject the naturalization application of a Chinese national who was penalized for working as a karaoke hostess was lawful.
According to the legal community on the 13th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 2 (Presiding Judge Jeongmin Lee) ruled against Ms. A, a Chinese woman, in her lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice seeking to cancel the rejection of her naturalization application. The court stated, "It can be seen that she did not meet the 'good conduct' requirement, which is one of the naturalization conditions under the Nationality Act," and added, "Even considering humanitarian circumstances, it is difficult to conclude that she met the naturalization requirements."
Ms. A, who was raising her minor son with Korean nationality alone after divorcing her Korean husband, received a summary order with a fine of 300,000 KRW in 2014 for working as a hostess at a karaoke bar. She later applied for naturalization in 2018, but the Ministry of Justice denied the application citing her past criminal record. Ms. A filed a lawsuit challenging this decision.
In court, Ms. A argued that her past offense was "about six years ago and was a relatively minor crime committed for livelihood." However, the court rejected this claim, stating, "Ms. A, who has resided in Korea since 2005, is presumed to have known that working as a karaoke hostess is punishable, and illegal acts cannot be condoned simply because they were committed for livelihood."
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