Adoptee calls for dialogue and dignity at National Assembly

Adoptee human rights advocate Simone Eun Mi stood before lawmakers on Sept. 2 with a question that has haunted thousands of Koreans sent abroad as children: “Where is my home? When will I have the right to be in Korea?”

It was the fifth time she had been invited to speak at the Assembly. Her remarks were part of the “Korean Diaspora: Memories Across the Sea, National Responsibility Beyond Borders” forum, which brought together policymakers, scholars and diaspora representatives.

More than 250,000 Korean children were adopted overseas in the decades following the 1950-53 Korean War, most of whom were not true orphans but children born to single mothers who lacked state support. For many, returning to Korea as adults has brought new difficulties: visa insecurity, lack of housing and no guaranteed access to adoption records.

“These are not isolated tragedies,” Simone told the audience. “They are the outcome of policies that treated children as numbers to be exported, not citizens to be protected.”

She recounted painful stories of adoptees who died alone in Korea, unable to access medical care, of those who took their own lives after deportation and of birth mothers who carried shame and trauma for decades. “Adoptees are 40 times more likely to commit suicide,” she said. “This is not love. This is violence.”

A ‘small happiness’

In the absence of state infrastructure, Simone founded Klein Geluk — Dutch for “small happiness” — to support adoptees in crisis. What began as emergency aid, such as care packages and safe housing, has grown into a network of community projects.

“Klein Geluk was born out of necessity,” she explained. “The government and NGOs failed us, so we had to create our own support.”

The organization has partnered with donors and local businesses, including La Taqueria in Toecheon, Gwangju, which donates half of its profits to Klein Geluk while offering vocational training and employment opportunities for adoptees. Other supporters include the Beautiful Foundation, Jubilee Foundation, Slow Food Korea, MONA, Seoul Young Leaders Club and Korea Green Building Council.

Yet Simone stresses that civil society cannot shoulder the responsibility alone. “Millions are spent on cultural programs for overseas Koreans — cooking workshops, language trips, hotel stays — while adoptees returning in crisis are denied food, housing or medical care,” she said. “That is not care. That is negligence.”

During her speech at the National Assembly, Simone pressed for a better path to permanent residency or citizenship for all returning adoptees, ensuring they would not be treated as foreigners in the land of their birth.

She also demanded thorough investigations into illegalities in adoptions, accountability for falsified records and fair compensation for victims. Finally, she argued for the establishment of an adoptee advisory council so that future policies would not be shaped not by bureaucrats or agencies, but by adoptees themselves.

“Korea must accept accountability before the world: adoption as practiced here was not welfare in the best interest of the child — it was child trafficking under state approval,” she said.

A second chance for Korea

For Simone, the fight is deeply personal. Adopted abroad, she returned to Korea in 2004 only to learn that her birth mother had died by suicide years earlier. “Korea advertises that ‘Adoption is Love.’ But is it?” she asked. “Adoption has too often been a machine of violence, erasure, inequality — and yes, death.”

Despite the loss, she continues her advocacy with determination. She frames the issue not only as a reckoning with the past, but as a chance for Korea to lead globally by reforming the adoption system it once helped build.

“Korea has shown before that it can face history with courage — through its apology and reparations for Jeju 4·3 victims,” she said. “For adoptees, symbolic words are not enough. We need truth, recognition and restoration.”

Alice Hong is a freelance writer and comedian based in Seoul. Follow her at @hippohong on Instagram.