In Response to The Korean Herald Article: South Korea Admitted Flawed Adoption Practices: Adoptees Call It ‘Empty Gestures.’

“Based on the following analysis of the intercountry adoption business, we, the undersigned Korean adopted people and inter-country adopted people, parents and families separated by adoption, and our allies, request the Korean Government: Refrain from ratifying the Hague Adoption Convention, as it argues for a private business solution to a public challenge;” – Korean Adoptees Worldwide

The Korean Herald’s Complete Article Below:

Published : April 2, 2025 – 14:52:22Updated : April 2, 2025 – 16:12:13

In a historic move last week, South Korea officially acknowledged that its past overseas adoption program was flawed and led to human rights violations.

While many adoptee groups hailed the announcement by the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission, adoptees and their advocates contacted by The Korea Herald reacted with caution, some with disappointment, saying the belated action would ring hollow unless it leads to meaningful solutions and addresses key systemic issues.

On March 26, the commission, a government-appointed body tasked with investigating wrongdoing by state authorities, concluded after a yearslong investigation that the country violated the rights of children adopted abroad between the 1960s and 1990s. It found that adoption agencies routinely falsified documents to expedite adoptions, including recording children with living parents as “orphans” and even switching children’s identities when an adoptee died or was reclaimed by birth relatives.

The TRC recommended that the government issue a formal apology, improve access to adoption records, and support family reunifications. It also urged the government to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, an international treaty designed to protect children in international adoptions and prevent trafficking. South Korea signed the treaty in 2013 but has yet to implement it.

But adoptee representatives expressed disappointment that the recommendations stopped short of concrete reparations and failed to address the most crucial issue facing adoptees: their inability to access information about their birth parents.

The truth commission reviewed the cases of 367 Korean adoptees who had applied for investigations since 2022. Of these, it confirmed rights violations in 56 cases. Another 42 cases were classified as “pending” due to what the Commission called “insufficient evidence.”

That reasoning has drawn sharp criticism from adoptees and rights advocates, who argue that the absence of documentation is itself a consequence of decades of state and institutional misconduct. “The commission is asking adoptees to prove what was systematically erased or manipulated,” said Dr. Shin Pil-sik, a South Korean researcher specializing in adoptee rights who supported Denmark’s Korean Rights Group in filing their applications to the TRC.

Kim Yooree, one of the three adoptee speakers at the press conference and herself a recognized victim, described the TRC’s recommendations as lacking substance. “This case is not just about negligence,” Kim told local media in a separate interview on Wednesday.

“It was a state-authorized human trafficking operation.”

Her attorney, Choi Jung-kyu, criticized the commission for stopping short of ordering reparations. “Ultimately, adoptees will be forced to pursue legal action individually to seek compensation,” Choi said.

Julayne Lee, a Korean adoptee raised in the United States who filed for investigation in 2022, said she expected her case would be rejected precisely because of the insufficient paperwork.

“I knew from the start I didn’t have enough — not enough records, documents, or even a family photo,” Lee told The Korea Herald. “But that’s the point. The Korean government and the adoption agencies might have destroyed or falsified those records.”

Lee emphasized that the core demand from adoptees isn’t complicated:

“We just want the truth. We want access to our own information — unfiltered, unredacted. There’s no excuse to keep hiding it.”

She added that the lack of records impacts adoptees in profound ways, including their health.

“Some of us are living without any knowledge of our family medical history. We could be at risk for illnesses and not even know it.”

While the TRC has called on the government to issue another formal apology, Lee said such gestures ring hollow. “They’ve apologized before,” she said. “They admit wrongdoing, but they’ve never truly fixed it.”

Reporter Moon Joon-hyun

The “Unknown” Culture Club: Korean Adoptees, Then and Now:

This collection, compiled by Korean adoptees, serves as a tribute to transracially adopted people sent all over the world. It has been hailed to be the first book to give Korean adoptees the opportunity to speak freely since the pioneering of intercountry adoption after the Korean War. If you were adopted, you are not alone. These stories validate the experiences of all those who have been ridiculed or outright abused but have found the will to survive, thrive, and share their tale. Adopted people all over the world are reclaiming the right to truth and access to birth documents. This book is a living testament to why previous “orphans” do not endorse the profitable Evangelical Orphan Movement. Those who work in the human rights field, whistleblowers, or adopted will see the value of this book. After years of forced “positivity” led by the profiteers, it is time to be real. These are real stories from individuals no longer serving the adoption pioneers’ fanciful wishes and advertising campaigns.