Former K-Pop Star Finds Career in China

Onetime K-pop star Steve Yoo said he won’t be going back to S. Korea after the broadcaster SBS announced a public poll Thursday on whether Yoo should be allowed to return.

Yoo, now 34, was deported in 2002 and banned from returning after he became a naturalized U.S. citizen just as he was being drafted to serve the two years of military service required of all able-bodied Korean males. The S. Korean government deemed Yoo to have given up his Korean citizenship in order to evade military service and classified him as a deserter.

Yoo Seung-jun was born in Seoul and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 13. He returned to Korea in 1996 to begin his career as a singer, dancer and rapper. His debut single became a hit, and Yoo achieved rapid stardom due in part to his unique, high-energy rapping and dancing style. His K-pop career ended abruptly when he was deported in 2002.

A few years after his exile Yoo appeared on a Korean TV show begging forgiveness but failed to change public opinion. He shifted his career focus to mainland China while continuing to release albums in Korea through his Korean producer. Unable to regain his former popularity, Yoo built up his physique and signed a 15-year contract with Jackie Chan’s entertainment management company.

In 2009 Yoo made his acting debut as a villain in a film Chan wrote and produced that was released in February 2010 under the title Little Big Soldier. Yoo is studying at Jackie Chan’s stunt school with an eye toward building a career in action films.

Yoo currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their newborn.