South Korea accused of ‘mass exports’ of children abroad

South Korean governments have committed numerous violations of human rights over decades in a controversial program that sent at least 170,000 children and babies abroad for adoption, a remarkable investigation has established.

It states that the lack of government supervision allows for “mass export of children” by private agencies guided by profit and found examples of fraud, counterfeit records and coercion.

Since the 1950s, South Korea has been sending more children abroad for adoption than any other country, most of them sent to Western countries.

South Korea has moved to tighten the adoption processes, but some adoptive parents and their biological parents say they are still persecuted by what they have gone through. The BBC talks to a woman who claims that their adoptive parents “take better care of the dog than I ever.”

“This is a shameful part of our history,” said Park Sun-Yang, chairman of the committee, at a briefing in the press.

“While many adoptive parents were fortunate to grow in loving families, others have suffered great difficulties and traumas due to insufficient adoption processes. Even today, many continue to face challenges.”

The report was published on Wednesday by the Independent Committee on Truth and Reconciliation after an investigation, which began in 2022.

Since then, 367 adoptive parents – all of whom were sent abroad between 1964 and 1999 – have submitted petitions stating that they have been ruthless practices in the acceptance process.

So far, about 100 petitions have been analyzed, of which 56 adoptive parents have been recognized as victims of human rights violations. The Commission is still investigating other cases, with the investigation being completed in May.

After the war in Korea, South Korea was one of the most overwhelming countries in the world and few families wanted to adopt children.

Then the government of South Korea launched a transnational adoption program processed by private agencies that have received significant powers through special adoption laws.

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

The report notes that foreign agencies require a certain number of children each month, and Korean agencies have complied with “facilitating large -scale adoptions with minimal procedural supervision”.

Without any government regulation of fees, Korean agencies charge large sums and demanded “donations” that have made adoption into a “profit -oriented industry,” according to the report.

Other gaps include adoptions carried out without the right consent by the mothers of birth and the inadequate screening of adoptive parents.

The agencies also came up with reports that made the children look as if they were abandoned and adopted; And deliberately gave children wrong identities.

As many adoptive parents have had false identities listed in their documents, they are now struggling to receive information about their native families and are left with inadequate legal protection, the report notes.

The Commission recommended that the government officially apologize and comply with international standards for transnational acceptance.

South Korea has moved to tighten the adoption processes in recent years. In 2023, he adopted a law guaranteeing that all adoptions abroad would be processed by a government ministry instead of private agencies, which should come into force by July.

The South Korean government has not yet responded to the report on Wednesday.

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

The couple, who at the time was their 50s, originally applied for adoption but were rejected by the Norwegian authorities because they were too old.

They then traveled to South Korea and visited an orphanage where they chose Iger-ton and took her to Norway.

The couple applied for adoption only to the Norwegian authorities years later. Authorities approved it, although they acknowledged the illegality of the Inger Tone situation because they have determined that until then it no longer has a “connection with Korea”.

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

“They took better care of the dog than I ever,” she said. “It was so painful. I couldn’t speak or express myself except to cry at night.”

In 2022, she successfully sued the local government in Norway and received compensation. In addition, she was recognized by the local authorities that this was responsible for “failing to control” her adoptive home.

Her adopters have since died.

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

While she is pleased with the results of the commission’s investigation, she said, “I live in the wrong country and have a painful and unhappy life.”

“I do not want this for anyone and I sincerely hope that they do not adopt more children outside Korea.”