In newly translated book, 'She is Angry,' Korean Danish author urges Korea to stop 'exporting' babies, calls for more financial support for unwed moms
By Lee Yeon-woo
Being lauded as "heroes" during the Korea's industrialization period, manufacturing workers were commonly portrayed as a key driving force behind Korea's dramatic rise from a war-torn country to one of world's fastest-growing economies in the 1970s.
Although their contribution was forgotten, however, there is another unknown group of people who also played a part in Korea's rapid economic growth: adoptees.
From 1956 to 1994, many Korean babies were sent North American and Western European countries through international adoption. Korea's uncontested status as the world's largest exporter of babies was later replaced by other developing countries.
In a report titled "Comforting an Orphan Nation," lecturer and author Tobias Hubinette says Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark adopted the most Korean children per capita during that the period. In Denmark, nearly 8,000 Korean babies were adopted between 1970 and 2021, according to Danish International Adoption (DIA).
In the book titled "Hun Er Vred" in Danish, which can be translated into English as "She is Angry," author Maja Lee Langvad shares her life as a Korean adoptee in Denmark. Her book was translated recently into Korean and published here. "She is Angry" is the Korean adoptee's personal account of her and fellow adoptees' lives in Europe and the traumas of adoption.
Born in 1980, Langvad said she was raised hearing that she would have struggled in poverty and hunger if she had not been adopted. Ever since she came out as a lesbian, people began to tell her that she was so lucky to get the chance to live in Denmark, a country more "open" to sexual minorities.
The cover of "Hun Er Vred" by Maja Lee Langvad. Courtesy of Nanda Publication
She has observed that those attitudes toward Korean adoptees reflect a sense that developed countries are superior to developing countries.
"I was asked to feel grateful for being adopted for my whole life," Langvad said.
But, she said, she has different feelings about her life as a Korean adoptee in Denmark.
She calls herself a victim of transnational adoption, a term she chose to use instead of "international adoption," claiming that it better shows the structural inequalities between countries.
"She is angry because she was imported. She is angry because she was exported," Langvad writes in the book. The author said she uses the third person to refer to herself instead of the first person, because she believes that what she felt and experienced while growing up can be generalized to what other adoptees went through.
"She thinks contemplating children's nationalities for adoption is no different from choosing wines in department stores based on their countries of origin," the author added.
She is sharply critical of the nature of transnational adoption, as she says that it is a business and adoption agencies are cashing in by "selling children overseas."
"Even though national adoption is better for children in most cases (as adoptees share the same nationality and national culture of their adoptive parents), those agencies indiscriminately send children abroad to get higher brokerage fees," Langvad said.
According to Rep. Kim Sung-ju of the Democratic Party of Korea, private adoption agencies get paid an average of 2.7 million won for each national adoption and 20 million won to 30 million won for each international adoption. Holt International is known to charge around 48 million won to 68 million won for adopting a Korean child abroad.
The adoption agencies denied the allegation, claiming that the money goes to operating orphanages and employees' salaries.
An orphanage in Korea operated by Holt International Korea Times file
International adoption in Korea first began in 1954 after the Korean War left a large number of biracial Korean children, later expanding to monoracial Korean children.
Today, unwed mothers who stay at shelters run by adoption agencies are often solicited to fill out an adoption agreement during counseling without being given sufficient information, according to Choi Hyoung-suk, the public relations manager of the Korean Unwed Mothers and Families Association (KUMFA).
Nine out of every 10 babies ― of the 492 babies adopted last year ― were born to single mothers, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
"She is not a person who unconditionally opposes transnational adoption. She is angry because adoption is misused to deal with babies from single mothers and parents in poor conditions," Langvad said.
Instead of transnational adoption, Langvad suggest more financial support and building more shelters for parents and unwed mothers as the best solution, before adoption is considered.
She said her target audience is Korean readers, as she has a message to deliver to them.
"In this wealthy country where the birthrate is at an all-time low, why do you keep sending children abroad?" Langvad asks.
Pleegouders zwaargewond meisje (10) opgepakt voor poging tot doodslag
De pleegouders van het 10-jarige meisje uit Vlaardingen dat verleden week zwaargewond naar het ziekenhuis werd gebracht, zijn maandagmorgen opgepakt. De 37-jarige Vlaardingers worden verdacht van poging tot doodslag en zware mishandeling van het slachtoffertje in hun woning.
Adrianne de Koning 27-05-24, 13:37 Laatste update: 27-05-24, 14:23
In de nacht van maandag op dinsdag werd het meisje met zwaar lichamelijk letsel en in zeer zorgwekkende toestand door de pleegouders zelf naar het ziekenhuis gebracht. Zij was niet aanspreekbaar en kon niet zelf vertellen wat er was gebeurd. Ze is er nog altijd slecht aan toe. Er waren direct twijfels over hoe zij zo gewond kon raken.
Terre des Hommes stops the adoption work in Romania after TV-Avisen's information that there is still fraud with adopted children's medical certificates.
erre des Hommes ceases its adoption work in Romania with immediate effect. This is happening after Minister of Justice Frank Jensen has decided that, for the time being, no children may be adopted from Romania to Denmark through Terre des Hommes. The minister's intervention comes after TV-Avisen has revealed that there is still fraud with medical certificates and social reports in Romania.
The accusations against Terre des Hommes and the organization's Romanian partner Domnita Gavenea began in September last year. The DR documentary program Ønskebarnet showed how adopted children, in which the Romanian medical reports were described as retarded, in Domnita Gavenea's English translations were described as completely normal. Last night, TV-Avisen was able to document that the fraud continues.
Terre des Homme's Romanian partner says that there are no perfect Romanian adopted children. But several adoptive parents have openly accused Domnitas Gavernea of embellishing the medical reports, and now they have founded an association to support each other. At the same time, the Danish Parliament's legal committee is dealing with a bill that will tighten the supervision of the organizations that mediate adoptions in the fraud country.
EU Vice President Frattini had an audition with the Italian Parliamentary Commission for Child Protection, where he presented on 15 March initiatives on the rights of the child, in particular concerning adoption. In fact, Frattini announced the presentation, during 2007, of a comparative study on laws in EU Member States with a view to harmonise the different legislations on adoptions. A precise analysis will be the basis for reflexion on the introduction of European adoption: being a new level to be placed between national and international adoption, this new issue may offer to abandoned children in the European region a chance to find a family.
I was offered a new job in DG ELARG by a Head of Unit I had worked with before: coordination of financial programming for civil society and the social sector for accession countries. He had contacted me, saying the COM was trying to kick me out, so it was better to start working now. I started part-time. In January I started working full time. I liked the job and was quickly up and running.
However, end January intimidations had restarted and a sudden minor re-organisation meant that my job would resort under another Head of Unit with whom I had bad experience on Romanian children. Destabilised I entered again in sick leave.
