I thought I would post an update after so long, maybe this would help others who run into similar issues. So after I had posted the above, we requested a supervisor review, and two months later, they finally gave a very terse explanation. Basically my husband and his ex were living in the US and had divorced via the Korean consulate (because they got married in Korea). The NVC people must’ve expected the divorce be filed with a US court or something because they were living in the US at the time.
So we submitted a letter explaining the circumstances fully to show why the divorce was filed via the consulate. Another 2-3 months go by and we finally got DQ’d a few weeks ago! We were told that he should be expected to present his divorce documents for his consulate interview. Since it’ll be in Korea, we hope that the consulate people there have more experience navigating korean marriage/divorce procedures and not give us any more trouble about it.
It’s a longer process than we had expected but we feel like we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks to all who have read my posts and gave me advice, I wish everyone the best!