Ripped from families for not being ‘Korean enough,’ mixed-race adoptees seek truth and justice
Mixed-race adoptees have petitioned the state truth commission for an investigation into the government’s role in perpetuating pureblood racial politics through coercive adoption policies
Cho Young-il, Meeky Woo Flippen, Simon Hokwerda, and Oh Jae-gyeong hold up photos of themselves taken around the time that they were sent abroad for adoption as children. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
“Now that I'm 60, I know that life doesn't necessarily get better. I want to tell the child in the photo ‘Even if it's hard, things will get better if you endure,’ but I can’t. Because even if I find my mother and younger brother, I can never get back the 56 years I lost."
This is how Simon Hokwerda, 60, a Korean adoptee to the Netherlands, answered when asked what he would say to his younger self.
Separated from his mother and younger brother at age 4 and adopted by a Dutch family, he said that when he found out that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant, he couldn't handle it and abandoned her.
“Because I’m a wounded person, I lived my life hurting others as well. My child will resent me,” he said.
This shows how the trauma of overseas adoption is passed down from one generation to the next.
Simon Hokwerda holds up a photo of himself when he was around 4 years old, taken around the time he was sent to the Netherlands for adoption. His mother worked at the club while raising Simon and his brother on her own. Simon learned when he visited his hometown of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, that her landlord sent him for adoption to the Netherlands in 1970 because his mother had failed to pay the rent and childcare fees on time. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
Meeky Woo Flippen, 60, an adoptee to the US, is the head of the Korea branch of 325KAMRA, a nonprofit organization that helps Korean adoptees, veterans and individuals of Korean descent locate their biological families using DNA testing.
Adopted by a couple in the US at age 14 after her biological mother died, Flippen said she also found it difficult to genuinely trust people.
She said her marriage ended because she found it difficult to trust people, adding that making friends was also tough for fear of trusting people only for them to leave or getting close to those untrustworthy.
Meeky Woo Flippen holds up a photo of herself from the age of around 14 at “St. Vincent’s Home for Amerasian Children.” Her older sister had been adopted abroad after an adoption worker told her she would be free of want there. When their mother learned that Meeky’s older sister was being abused by her adoptive family, she fell ill and died, leaving Meeky an orphan. The rampant sexual abuse of children at St. Vincent’s Home was something Meeky learned firsthand while living there until being sent to the US. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
I caught up with Simon and Meeky, as well as fellow adoptees Cho Young-il and Oh Jae-gyeong, on May 8, which was Parents’ Day in Korea.
All four of them are seeking the truth about their adoptions as mixed-race children, as well as justice for being taken from their families against their wishes, all because they were the children of Korean women and American servicemen.
Though they were mere children at the time, all still felt that they were somehow to blame for being separated from their parents.
“If I’d known better, I would have clung to my mom and never let go,” said Cho Young-il, 69, expressing longing for a mother he can no longer remember clearly.
When he was 7, he was slated to be sent to a family in Sweden, only for his adoption to be cancelled at the last minute while he arrived at the airport. He was returned to his abusive foster family, living with them until he moved out in his first year of high school.
Cho Young-il holds up a photo taken by his foster family when he was around the age of 7 or 8. Holt had arranged for him to be sent to a family in Sweden in 1964, only for his adoption to be canceled when he arrived at the airport. His mixed-race background as an adoptee made life for both him and his family more challenging. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
Oh Jae-gyeong, 61, says he still feels regret.
“Had I protected her, maybe my mother could have lived longer, but I have to live with that regret,” he said. He stayed with family for a while before passing through “St. Vincent’s Home for Amerasian Children” and finally being sent to an adoptive family in the US in 1980.
Upon returning to Korea two years later, he learned that his mother hadn’t even known he had been sent away for adoption. His mother passed shortly after, in 1986, of a pulmonary illness.
Oh Jae-gyeong holds up a photo of himself taken around the age of 13 at “St. Vincent’s Home for Amerasian Children” before he was sent to the US for adoption in 1980, his family having been pressured by social workers to put him up for adoption due to his mixed racial background. A day after he was issued a passport with the name “Jody Oh,” he was suddenly adopted. He later learned that “Oh Jae-gyeong” had been reported as dead. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
What they want more than anything is the truth — answers about why and how they came to be sent abroad as adoptees in the manner that they did, as well as an investigation into state policy of sending mixed-race children overseas and sexual abuse at St. Vincent’s Home. They also want an apology from the state.
“No amount of money can compensate for the life I’ve lived. I want the truth,” Meeky said.
Meeky Woo Flippen submits a request for a fact-finding investigation regarding forced overseas adoption of mixed-race children to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on May 8, 2026. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
On May 8, the adoptee coalition group TRACE held a press conference outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul alongside Korean mothers who had their children taken from them and sent abroad for adoption. Simon held one side of the group’s banner, while Meeky, Young-il and Jae-gyeong held signs in their hands.
Each sniffled and patted the others on the shoulder as they listened to one another’s stories. No two of them may look alike, but in the end, they all share one thing: They are Koreans who carry with them hurt deep in their hearts.
Simon Hokwerda holds a banner during a press conference by TRACE, a coalition of adoptee groups, held outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on May 8, 2026. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
Meeky Woo Flippen wipes away tears during a press conference by TRACE, a coalition of adoptee groups, held outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on May 8, 2026. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
Cho Young-il tears up while listening to other adoptees speak during a press conference by TRACE, a coalition of adoptee groups, held outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on May 8, 2026. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
Meeky Woo Flippen comforts a participant in a press conference outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on May 8, 2026. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)
TRACE, a coalition of adoptee groups, holds a press conference outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on May 8, 2026. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)