1 of 2 | Lee Ae-rirana, a birth mother whose daughter was adopted to the United States, cries in front of a photo of her late daughter, Park Mi-ae, outside the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Seoul on Friday. Photo by Asia Today
May 8 (Asia Today) — Five South Korean birth mothers who lost children to overseas adoption filed petitions Friday seeking a truth investigation into alleged abuses involving foreign adoptions.
The women submitted the petitions to South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, saying their children were taken through kidnapping, false documents, deception by adoption agencies or without parental consent.
TRACE, a coalition advocating for truth-finding on overseas adoptions and child rights, held a news conference outside the commission’s office in central Seoul and disclosed several cases.
“The methods differed, but the result was the same,” the group said. “The mothers lost their children, and the children had to live their lives believing they had been abandoned.”
One case involved Lee Ae-rirana, 53, who said she was told after giving birth in 1993 that her baby daughter was seriously ill. A week later, she was told the child had died.
More than a decade later, Lee learned that her daughter, Park Mi-ae, had been adopted to Minnesota. Park later left her adoptive family after conflict, experienced homelessness and died in 2023, according to the group.
Another mother, Lee Gui-im, said she temporarily placed her two sons in a childcare facility in 1983 because of financial hardship after being told she could take them back when they reached middle school.
When she returned three months later with winter clothes for the boys, she learned they had already been sent to France for adoption.
Lee said an adoption consent form kept by the facility contained a signature in the birth mother’s name that she had never written. She said she could not read or write at the time.
Other cases included children who were reported missing but later sent overseas by orphanages and children allegedly taken through kidnapping or abduction before being placed for adoption.
Han Tae-soon, who was reunited with her daughter through DNA testing 44 years after the child disappeared at age 5 and was adopted to the United States nine months later, attended the event to support other mothers.
Han is pursuing legal action against the government and adoption agencies, accusing them of turning missing children into orphans for overseas adoption.
Park Min-seo, an attorney at Wongok Law Office, said no one involved in the adoption process made a proper attempt to verify the children’s identities.
TRACE called for investigations into false records and illegal adoptions by agencies and childcare facilities, a full review of overseas adoptions conducted without parental consent, a dedicated investigative body, a formal government apology and a support system to reunite birth parents and adoptees.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260508010001911
Rubi Pingree
Read More