South Korea accused of ‘mass export’ of children for adoptions abroad

The Governments of South Korea committed numerous human rights violations for decades in a controversial program that sent at least 170,000 children and babies abroad for adoption, according to historical investigation.

He said that the lack of government supervision allowed the “mass export of children” by private agencies that were driven by profits, and found examples of fraud, counterfeit records and coercion.

Since the 1950s, South Korea has sent more children abroad in adoption than any other country, and most sent to Western countries.

South Korea has sinned moved to harden their adoption processes, but some adopted and their biological parents say they are still persecuted for what happened. The BBC spoke with a woman who said that her adoptive parents “took better care of the dog than ever.”

“This is a shameful part of our history,” said Park Sun-Young, president of the commission, at a press conference.

“While many adopted were lucky to grow in love families, others suffered great difficulties and trauma due to defective adoption processes. Even today, many continue to face challenges.”

The report was published on Wednesday by the Independent Commission of Truth and Reconciliation after an investigation that began in 2022.

Since then, 367 adopted, all of whom were sent abroad between 1964 and 1999, had presented requests claiming fradulent practices in their adoption process.

So far about 100 requests have been analyzed, of which 56 adopted were recognized as victims of human rights violations. The commission is still investigating other cases, and the investigation will end in May.

Following the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and few families were interested in adopting children.

The South Korean government began a transnational adoption program managed by private agencies, which received significant powers through special adoption laws.

But there was a “systemic failure in supervision and management”, which led to numerous failures committed by these agencies, according to the report.

The report indicated that foreign agencies had demanded a fixed number of children every month and Korean agencies complied, “facilitating large -scale intercount adoptions with minimal procedure supervision.”

Without government regulation on rates, Korean agencies charged large quantities and demanded “donations”, which turned adoptions into “an industry driven by profits,” according to the report.

Other failures include adoptions made without the proper consent of biological mothers and the inadequate detection of adoptive fathers.

The agencies also manufactured reports that made the children seem abandoned and set for adoption; and intentionally gave children incorrect identities.

Because many adopted had false identities listed in their paperwork, they now fight to obtain information about their biological families and have inadequate legal protection, the report said.

The Commission has recommended that the Government deliver an official apology and meet international standards on transnational adoptions.

South Korea has moved to harden its adoption processes in recent years. In 2023, he approved a law that guarantees that all adoptions abroad were handled by a government ministry instead of private agencies, which must enter into force in July.

The South Korean government has not yet responded to Wednesday’s report.

Uland Shin, 60, was one of the petitioners whose cases were investigated by the commission. She was adopted by a Norwegian couple when she was 13 years old, and later discovered that her adoption was illegal.

The couple, who was 50 years old at that time, had initially requested to adopt, but was rejected by the Norwegian authorities, since they were too old.

Then they traveled to South Korea and visited an orphanage, where they selected Iger-Tone and took her to Norway.

The couple only submitted an adoption request to the Norwegian authorities years later. The authorities approved it, despite recognizing the illegality of the Inse-Tone situation, because they determined that by then he had no “connection with Korea.”

Inger-Tone told the BBC that he had great difficulty adapting to life in Norway, and also claimed that his adoptive father sexually abused her.

“They took better care of the dog than ever of me,” he said. “It was very painful. I couldn’t talk or express myself, apart from crying at night.”

In 2022, he successfully sued his local government in Norway and received damage. He also received the recognition of his local government that he was responsible for “not supervising” his adoptive home.

His adoptive parents have died since then.

“They have never spent time in prison for what they have done to me. They criminally collected a child outside the country … No one has assumed responsibility for what they did to me,” he said.

While he is satisfied with the results of the commission’s investigation, he said: “I have been living in the wrong country and I have had a painful and miserable life.”

“I don’t want this for anyone and I sincerely hope that they don’t adopt more children out of Korea.”