"Filed a lawsuit to change 'LEE' to 'YI,' but... Court says 'personal preference not allowed'"

According to The Financial News, a court has ruled that a person cannot change the romanized name on their passport based solely on personal preference.
On December last year, the 14th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Presiding Judge Lee Sang-deok, ruled against a plaintiff surnamed Lee who had sued the Minister of Foreign Affairs, seeking to change the romanized spelling of his surname on his passport from "LEE" to "YI."
Mr. Lee had received two passports in the past, both listing his surname as "LEE." In May 2024, he applied to have the romanized spelling of his surname on his passport changed from "LEE" to "YI." However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the request, saying it did not fall under any of the grounds for change set out in the Passport Act. Mr. Lee then filed a lawsuit.
In court, Mr. Lee argued, "When I applied for my first passport, I wrote my surname as 'YI,' but the official in charge unilaterally changed it to 'LEE' when issuing the passport," adding, "At the time, I did not have enough time to have the passport reissued, so I had no choice but to use the passport with 'LEE.' When I applied for my second passport, I again wrote 'YI,' but the official told me it was not allowed, so I had no option but to accept 'LEE.'"
He went on to say that he had used the spelling "YI" since high school, and that the same spelling appeared on his credit cards and other financial documents, English proficiency test records, employee ID card, and his military discharge certificate.
The court, however, rejected his arguments. It stated, "Under the relevant passport regulations, as a rule, the romanized name on a passport must be written by transliterating the Korean name registered in the family relations register on a syllable-by-syllable basis, and the exceptional grounds on which a romanized name may be changed are listed in a limited manner," explaining, "These provisions are intended to maintain and ensure the external credibility of Republic of Korea passports."
The court continued, "The claim that, when the first passport was issued, the official in charge arbitrarily altered the spelling of the plaintiff's surname contrary to his application is difficult to accept, because the plaintiff did not immediately raise an objection, and it seems unlikely that a public official would unilaterally change the spelling against the applicant's explicit wishes." It added, "Even if the romanized spelling on the plaintiff's passport is not changed as he requested, it does not cause any real inconvenience in his daily life or economic activities. The plaintiff himself has stated that he is not seeking the change because of any practical inconvenience, but that he filed this application solely due to his personal preference for the spelling 'YI.'"
theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo Reporter