South Korea, accused of “mass exports” of children in foreign adoptions

South Korean governments have committed numerous human rights violations for decades in a contradictory program that sent at least 170,000 children and babies abroad for adoption, revealed a significant request.

It states that the lack of supervision of the government allowed the private agency “mass exports of children”, which were conditioned by income, and found examples of fraud, falsified recording and coercion.

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

South Korea has sinned to strengthen their adoption processes, but some adopters and their biological parents say they still pursue what they have experienced. The BBC talked to one woman who stated that her foster parents “cared for a dog better than if -me.”

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

“While many adopted people are lucky to grow in loving families, others have suffered great difficulties and injuries from underdeveloped adoption processes. Even today, many continue to face problems.”

The report was published on Wednesday by a commission on independent truth and reconciliation after the investigation, which began in 2022.

Since then, 367 adopters – all of them were sent abroad from 1964 to 1999 – filed petitions that claim that during the adoption process.

About 100 petitions were still analyzed, of which 56 adopters were recognized as victims of human rights violations. The Commission is still investigating other cases and the request will end in May.

After the Korean War, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, and few families sought to accept children.

The South Korean government then launched a multinational adoption program, which is engaged in private agencies that have received significant powers through special adoption laws.

But there was a “systemic failure to supervise and management”, which led to many gaps committed by these agencies, the report said.

The report notes that foreign agencies demanded a monthly number of children, and the Korean agencies performed “promoting large -scale adoption with minimal procedural supervision”.

Korean agencies without state regulation, Korean agencies charged large sums and demanded “donations” that turned the adoption into a “profits governed,” the statement said.

Other gaps include adoptions that are carried out without the proper consent of the mother’s mother, and insufficient examination of the foster parents.

The agencies also fabricated reports that made the children look as if they had been thrown and put up for adoption; and intentionally gave the children the wrong identity.

Since many adopters had false identities listed in their documents, they are now struggling to obtain information about their families and remain insufficient legal protection, the report notes.

The commission recommended that the government hold official apologies and comply with international multinational adoption standards.

In recent years, South Korea has moved to the enhancement of the adoption process. In 2023, he passed a law that guarantees that all foreign adoptions will be engaged in the State Ministry instead of private agencies, which should take effect by July.

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

60-year-old Inger-Ton Wellland Shin was one of the petitioners whose cases were investigated by the commission. When she was 13 years old, she was adopted by the Norwegian couple – and later found that her adoption was illegal.

The couple, which at the time was in the 50s, initially turned to the reception, but the Norwegian authorities rejected because they were too old.

Then they went to South Korea and visited the shelter where they chose Inger Ton and took her to Norway.

Through years later, the couple applied for adoption to the Norwegian authorities. The authorities approved this despite the recognition of the illegality of the Inger-Tone situation because they have determined that it still “had no longer connected with Korea.”

Inger-Ton told the BBC that she had great difficulties in the adaptation to life in Norway, as well as her foster father sexually harshly treated her.

“They took better care of the dog than if – something from me,” she said. “It was so painful. I couldn’t talk and express myself except crying at night.”

In 2022, she successfully sued her local self -government in Norway and was awarded losses. She also received the recognition of local self -government that she was responsible for “not to control” her foster home.

Her foster parents have died since then.

“They never spent time in jail for what they did with me. They criminally seized the child outside the country … Nobody took responsibility for what they did with me,” she said.

While she was satisfied with the results of the commission investigation, she said, “I live in that country, and I had a painful and unhappy life.”

“I don’t want it for anyone, and I sincerely hope they no longer take children from Korea.”