South Korea has acknowledged "mass exporting" children for adoption

Recently, after a two-year investigation, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a bombshell report exposing the government’s decades-long tolerance of private agencies systematically trafficking children under the guise of intercountry adoption.

The investigation revealed that between the 1960s and 1990s, at least 170,000 Korean children were sent to countries in Europe and North America, with the operational chain rife with scandals such as forged documents, illegal fees, and identity falsification.

The report noted that under the protection of special legislation, over 300 private adoption agencies turned child trafficking into a "lucrative industry."

Agencies "produced" adoptable children monthly based on demand, evading regulation by forging "abandoned infant certificates," fabricating identities, and even demanding exorbitant "donation fees" from adoptive families. Due to widespread document fraud, many adoptees now find themselves unable to trace their birth families.

"This was essentially government-sanctioned child trafficking," stated Commission Chair Park Sun-young at the report’s release.

The investigation showed that 52% of adoption files contained falsified birth certificates, and 34% of cases involved birth mothers being forced to sign documents. In 1968, one agency even altered a 3-year-old child’s identity to a "17-year-old orphan" to bypass age restrictions for adoption.

The trauma from this system continues to reverberate. Kim Mi-sun, now 48, told the media that her Dutch adoptive parents "cared more for their dog than for me."

Among the 56 confirmed cases of abuse, adoptees reported experiences including domestic violence, forced labor, and sexual abuse.

The report recommends that the South Korean government issue a formal apology for this "institutionalized history of crime" and establish a mechanism to trace intercountry adoptions.