[1][2] Holley first came to South Korea in 1978 as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remaining there for two years.
[2][7] He decided to naturalize as a South Korean citizen in 1997, which required him to give up his U.S. citizenship.
He has described this as a difficult decision, especially since at the time South Korea was not a member of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program; a U.S. consular official tried to discourage him from giving up citizenship, warning that he might not be able to get a visa to return to his country of birth, but Holley nevertheless decided to go through with it.
[9] On April 10, 2019, Holley was arrested by the Cyber Investigation Division of the Gyeonggi-do Southern Region Police Department on the charge of using methamphetamines pursuant to the Narcotics Control Act.
[12] On August 29, 2019, at the Seoul Western District Court, Holley was given a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years and 40 hours of drug treatment.