"From 'LEE' to 'YI'... Court Rules Passport Surname Cannot Be Changed for Personal Preference"

Lee Claims "Civil Servant Arbitrarily Changed the Name to 'LEE'"

Yonhap News

A court has ruled that it was legitimate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reject a request to change the English surname 'LEE' on a passport to 'YI' based on personal preference.

According to the legal community on March 9, the Seoul Administrative Court's 14th Division (Presiding Judge Lee Sangdeok) dismissed a lawsuit filed by an individual surnamed Lee against the Minister of Foreign Affairs, seeking to overturn the ministry's decision to deny the request to change the English name on the passport.

Lee had originally received a passport with the Romanized surname 'LEE' and was reissued a passport with the same spelling in 2019. Later, in 2024, Lee applied at a city office passport agency to change the English surname from 'LEE' to 'YI', but when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the request, Lee filed a lawsuit.

Lee claimed that when the passport was first issued, the application specified 'YI', but a civil servant arbitrarily changed it to 'LEE', and that there was no other choice but to use it due to travel schedules. Lee further argued that since 'YI' had been used for financial transactions, English tests, and employee IDs since high school, the passport should also reflect this spelling.

However, the court determined that maintaining the English surname as 'LEE' would not cause any practical inconvenience in daily life or economic activities.

In particular, the court pointed out that Lee had stated the request for the change was due to a personal preference for the spelling 'YI', rather than actual inconvenience, and explained that this does not fall under any exceptions permitted by the Passport Act.

The court also emphasized the public interest in strictly limiting changes to the Romanized names in South Korean passports to ensure their international credibility. The court expressed concern that if passport names could be easily changed, it would make it more difficult for foreign governments to identify the holder, potentially leading to stricter visa issuance and entry screening for all Korean nationals, which could result in national disadvantages.

The court stated, "It is highly unlikely that the civil servant modified the spelling against the applicant's wishes," and added, "A change cannot be permitted solely for the satisfaction of personal beliefs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.