We acknowledge South Korean’s President Lee’s public apology to Korean adoptees and families who have endured lifelong pain and loss. Recognition is an important first step toward truth and accountability.

However, the Hague Adoption Convention is not a solution — it is a self-regulatory and self-accrediting system, largely shaped and trained by adoption agencies such as Holt International. These same institutions have profited from the separation of children from their families for decades.

True justice means protecting children by keeping families together — not by regulating their separation.

While the Convention is often promoted as a child protection measure, in practice, it has helped to legitimize the global adoption industry and continue the commodification of children under the guise of legality.

We call on the South Korean government to move beyond symbolic apologies and take meaningful action:

• Conduct a full investigation into historic and current adoption practices,

• Ensure open and unrestricted access to adoption records,

• Recognize adoption trafficking as a human rights violation, and

• Prioritize truth over profit.

✊ #KoreanAdopteesWorldwide #AdoptionTrafficking #StopChildCommodification #HagueConvention #TruthAndAccountability

The Purpose of Korean Adoptees Worldwide is to protect local and global families from the crisis of international adoption and to protect the Korean people from adoption profiteers who exploit vulnerable families around the world.

Respond to South Korean’s President, Myung Jae Lee on Facebook here.