South Korea is mapping shadowy adoptions
South Korea wants to map shady adoption practices with a study of dozens of adoptions from the second half of the last century.
The investigation was enforced by Danish lawyer Peter Regel Møller , himself adopted from South Korea.
South Korea will investigate dozens of adoptions of children who were given shelter in the United States and Europe, including Belgium, in the second half of the last century. These are the adoptions of children who were taken from South Korean parents without permission, especially in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. These were often orphans or street children, usually girls. During the adoptions, documents were allegedly forged and identities were deliberately changed. Children were also kidnapped and registered as orphans, or abandoned by their parents.
unmarried mothers
The international adoption of South Korean children started in the years after the Korean War (1950-1953). Initially, it mainly concerned orphans. Thereafter, the emphasis shifted increasingly to "socially unwanted" children, such as those of unmarried mothers, a cultural taboo in South Korea, or those of South Korean mothers and African-American soldiers stationed in the country.
In the 1970s, sometimes five thousand South Korean children per year went abroad after adoption. The military leaders who governed South Korea after the Korean War also saw adoption as a way to improve ties with the friendly West. In the run-up to the Olympic Games in Seoul (1988), the number of adoptions decreased; the South Korean government wanted to get rid of the image of a 'child exporter'.
'It's about our identity, about who we really are' Yung Fierens Belgian who filed a complaint
The investigation into the adopted children, decided on Thursday, is being carried out by South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up in 2005 to investigate abuses from the last century, including during the military regimes, to the 1990s.
Over the past three months, more than three hundred adoptees from different countries – mainly Denmark, but also Belgium – turned to the commission in Seoul with complaints about fraudulent practices related to their adoption. This was done at the initiative of the Danish lawyer Peter Regel Møller, himself adopted from South Korea when he was six months old, on behalf of the Danish-Korean Rights Group (DKRG). Denmark has about nine thousand adoptees from South Korea.
In early December, South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to deal with the complaint. It has now been decided to investigate 34 specific adoption cases of children who were sent to Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the US between the 1960s and 1990s. The DKRG demands, among other things, that "the truth about overseas adoptions, ethnic cleansing and deportations" come out, and that "adoption companies" be held responsible "for the theft of Korean children." The group also wants research into sexual abuse of children adopted from South Korea.
Some adoptees who have reported to authorities in Seoul say they discovered that adoption agencies had switched their identities with deceased children, never being able to investigate who their birth parents are.
The complainants want South Korea to investigate whether the authorities themselves were responsible for the corrupt practices. They also want to know whether the high amounts that were sometimes offered from abroad for adopted children led to a greater 'supply' from adoption agencies.
Belgian file
The adoption of the Belgian Yung Fierens (46) is also being investigated by the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 'It's about our identity, about who we really are', Fierens said in this newspaper on 14 September. Fierens suspects that the identity of the biological families is stated in 80 percent of the files. She herself says she was given up for adoption by her grandmother without her own parents being aware of this.
Fierens met her first parents, two sisters and a brother, on a visit to South Korea sixteen years ago. 'I knocked on the door of the adoption service and was shown my original file,' she says. 'It contained all the information about my origins. Surprising, because they were not in my adoption file in Belgium.'
'Denmark has proportionally the largest number of Korean adoptees', says Fierens. 'Nine thousand live there, out of a population of five million. In Belgium, with 3,600, we are the second largest group after those adopted from India. Worldwide, we are the largest group with 200,000 to 250,000 adoptees.'
© NRC
HLN, Nieuwsblad, De Morgen and now also The Standard. Flanders are waking up to misconceptions regarding adoptions from South Korea!
South Korea wants to map dark adoption practices with a study of dozens of adoptions from the second half of the last century.
Rob Shoof
Monday December 12, 2022 at 3:25 pm
???? Ahn Young-joon/ap
The investigation has been forced by the Danish lawyer Peter Regel Møller, adopted himself from South Korea.
South Korea will investigate dozens of adoptions of children who took shelter in the United States and Europe in the second half of the last century, including Belgium. It concerns adoptions of children who were removed from South Korean parents without consent, especially in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Often those were orphans or street children, mostly girls. During the adoptions, among other things, documents were forged and identities were deliberately exchanged. Children were also abducted and registered as orphans, or abandoned by their parents.
Unmarried mothers
The international adoption of South Korean children began in the years following the Korean War (1950-1953). Initially, it mainly concerns orphans. After that, the emphasis became increasingly on “socially unwanted” children, such as those of unmarried mothers, a cultural taboo in South Korea, or those of South Korean mothers and African-American soldiers stationed in the country.
In the 70s, sometimes five thousand South Korean children went abroad a year after adoption. The military leaders who ruled South Korea after the Korean War also saw adoption as a way to improve ties with the friendly West. In the run-up to the Seoul Olympic Games (1988), the number of adoptions decreased; the South Korean government wanted to get rid of the image of "child exporter".
"It's about our identity, about who we really are" Yung Fierens Belgian who filed a complaint
The study into the adoptive children, which was decided on Thursday, is being carried out by the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established in 2005 to investigate instances from the previous century, including during the Mi literary regimes, until the nineties.
Over the past three months, more than three hundred adoptees from different countries – especially Denmark, but also Belgium – turned to the commission in Seoul with complaints about fraudulent practices around their adoption. That happened on the initiative of Danish lawyer Peter Regel Møller, adopted himself from South Korea when he was six months old, on behalf of the Danish-Korean Rights Group (DKRG). Denmark has around nine thousand adopted from South Korea.
In early December, the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to examine the complaint. Meanwhile, it has been decided to investigate 34 specific adoption cases of children who were sent to Denmark, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and the USA between the sixties and nineties. The DKRG demands, among other things, that "the truth about overseas adoptions, ethnic cleansing and deportations" comes out, and that "adoption companies" are held responsible "for the theft of Korean children". The group also wants sexual abuse of children adopted from South Korea to be investigated.
Some adoptees who reported to authorities in Seoul say they discovered adoption agencies swapped their identities with deceased children, never being able to investigate who their biological parents were be.
The complainants want South Korea to investigate whether the authorities themselves were responsible for the corrupt practices. They also want to know if the high sums that were sometimes offered from abroad for adoptive children led to a larger 'offer' of adoption agencies.
Belgian file
The adoption of the Belgian Yung Fierens (46) is also being investigated by the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission. "It's about our identity, about who we really are", Fierens said about that on September 14 in this newspaper. Fierens suspects that 80 percent of the files contain the identity of the biological families. She herself says that she was given up for adoption by her grandmother without her own parents knowing about it.
Sixteen years ago Fierens met her first parents, two sisters and a brother on a visit to South Korea. "I knocked on the adoption service and was shown my original file," she says. 'It contained all the data about my origin. Surprising, because they were not in my adoption file in Belgium. '
"Denmark has relatively adopted the largest number of Koreans", Fierens knows. Nine thousand live there, on a population of five million. In Belgium we are 3,600, the second largest group after those adopted from India. Globally, with 200,000 to 250,000 adopted, we are the largest group.