The independent report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published on Wednesday shows that the lack of supervision by the South Korean government enabled “mass export of children” by private adoption agencies. Fraula, forgery and extortion were committed.
The government has repeatedly broken human rights during the implementation of the controversial program, under which at least 170,000 children were sent abroad for adoption – emphasized in the document of the Independent Commission of Truth and Reconciliation. The BBC station emphasized that since the 1950s South Korea She sent more children abroad than any other country. Most went to Western countries.
South Korea has already improved its adoption procedure, but some adopted and their biological parents talk about trauma because of it. The BBC talked to a woman who said that her adoptive parents “took care of their dog better than me.”
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The report was prepared by the Independent Commission of Truth and Reconciliation after the investigation, which began in 2022. Since then, 367 adopted persons sent abroad in 1964-1999 reported fraud during their adoption procedure.
Until now, about 100 applications have been analyzed and 56 people were considered victims of human rights violations. All applications are to be examined by May.
Foreign adoptions in South Korea
After the Korean war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and few families were ready to adopt children. The government then initiated the international adoption program, implemented by private agencies by virtue of wide attorney granted in the adoption law.
According to the report, foreign agencies demanded a specific number of children every month, and Korean agencies succumbed to “facilitating international adoption on a large scale with minimal supervision.”
In the absence of government regulations, Korean agencies demanded a high salary and “donations”, which made adoptions a “profit -based business” – said in the report.
Among others, there was a lack of adequate consent from mothers and insufficient checking of adoptive parents. The agencies also failed the documents so that they showed that children were abandoned and deliberately giving untrue personal details of children.
The commission recommended the government to transfer official apologies and adapt to international standards in the sphere of international adoption. From July, international adoption is to be carried out in South Korea not by private agencies, but one of the ministries.
Author/author: raw
Source: PAP
Source of the main photo: Shutterstock