South Korea, long known as the world’s largest “baby exporter,” has faced new scrutiny as evidence emerges of systemic abuses in the adoption process. The country sent hundreds of thousands of children overseas in the decades following the Korean War, often leaving many mothers destitute and coerced into giving up their children.
A recent report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 2022 to investigate allegations of forced adoptions, has revealed disturbing practices. According to the commission, more than a dozen babies from several government-funded care facilities in the 1980s were taken to adoption agencies under coercive circumstances, sometimes as soon as the day after birth.
The commission’s findings focus on three care facilities in Daegu and Sejong, where, between 1985 and 1986, 20 children were transferred to adoption agencies. Most of these children were adopted by families in the United States, Australia, Norway, and Denmark. The report confirms that these facilities used methods to force mothers to relinquish their parental rights, a conclusion that provides a bittersweet victory for adoptees seeking accountability from the government.
The commission is also investigating allegations of falsified paperwork related to these adoptions. An interim report is expected later this year, which could further illuminate the scale of the malpractice.
Since the 1950s, more than 200,000 South Korean children have been adopted internationally. While adoptions continue, the numbers have decreased since the 2010s, following changes in South Korea’s adoption laws aimed at addressing systemic issues and reducing the number of overseas adoptions.
For many adoptees, who grew up in predominantly White populations in the US and Europe, the search for their biological families has been driven by feelings of disconnection from their Korean roots. The commission’s findings have evoked mixed reactions, with some adoptees feeling both horror and hope.
Susanné Seong-eun Bergsten, a Korean adoptee raised in Sweden, expressed her mixed emotions. “It’s truly terrifying to hear how systemic these issues were, but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily surprising,” she told CNN. Bergsten, who was reunited with her biological family as a young adult, highlighted the lack of context in adoption paperwork, which often fails to provide crucial information about the adoptees’ cultural background and the struggles faced by their birth families.
Mark Zastrow, another Korean adoptee raised in the US, hailed the report as an “important milestone” that validates long-held suspicions within the adoptee community. “The narrative that Korean mothers chose to relinquish their children voluntarily is, in many cases, a fiction,” he said.
Both Zastrow and Bergsten view the report as a promising step but urge the South Korean government to continue its efforts to address past abuses. “Adoption touches every level of Korean society, every economic class,” Zastrow noted, emphasizing the need for ongoing accountability and reparations.
The revelations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission mark a significant development in understanding the complexities and challenges of South Korea’s adoption history, highlighting the need for further examination and redress.
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