Steve Yoo was a hugely popular chart-topping singer in the 1990s, but that changed when he became a naturalized American shortly before he was to be called up for military service in 2002, automatically forfeiting his South Korean nationality and with it the obligation to serve.

Every able-bodied South Korean man is required to spend nearly two years in the military, often in remote areas along the border with the nuclear-armed North.

Service is widely unpopular but regarded as an essential duty, and Yoo’s move triggered widespread outrage.

He was rapidly deported to the US — he had spent much of his teenage years in California — and has been refused South Korean visas ever since.

Four years ago he sued to challenge the denials and after losing twice in lower courts and mounting an appeal to the Supreme Court, the Seoul High Court ruled Friday that it “retracts the refusal to issue a visa”.