South Korea, World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter,’ Admits to Adoption Fraud
South Korea, World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter,’ Admits to Adoption Fraud
South Korea, World’s Largest ‘Baby Exporter,’ Admits to Adoption Fraud
Author: Choe Sang-Hun
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Published on: 26/03/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
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South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said children were sent away “like luggage” for profit decades ago. Many adoptees have returned to their birth country in recent years, campaigning tirelessly for South Korea to come to terms with one of the most shameful legacies of its modern history. The commission’s report was the government’s first official admission of problems with the country’s adoption practices. South Korea is the source of the world’s largest diaspora of intercountry adoptees. South Korea promoted overseas adoptions to find homes for orphaned, abandoned or disabled children abroad rather than build a welfare system for them at home. The government left it to the adoption agencies to find and ship children abroad for fees from adoptive families. South Korea’s export of babies peaked in the 1980s, with as many as 8,837 children shipped abroad in 1985. Some of these funds were in turn used to secure more children, the commission said. The truth commission does not have the power to prosecute any adoption agencies. Mary Bowers, who was adopted by a family in Colorado in 1982, was still waiting for answers to many inconsistencies in her adoption papers. Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. The city-state is one of the most expensive places to drive.
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