{"id":909537,"date":"2026-05-31T14:14:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T19:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/south-korean-mothers-seek-probe-into-overseas-adoptions\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T14:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T19:14:22","slug":"south-korean-mothers-seek-probe-into-overseas-adoptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/south-korean-mothers-seek-probe-into-overseas-adoptions\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean mothers seek probe into overseas adoptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/p>\n

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May 8 (Asia Today) —<\/span> Five South Korean birth mothers who lost children to overseas adoption filed petitions Friday seeking a truth investigation into alleged abuses involving foreign adoptions.<\/p>\n

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.\n<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“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.”\n<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.\n<\/p>\n

When she returned three months later with winter clothes for the boys, she learned they had already been sent to France for adoption.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Han is pursuing legal action against the government and adoption agencies, accusing them of turning missing children into orphans for overseas adoption.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.\n<\/p>\n

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.<\/i><\/p>\n

Original Korean report: https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260508010001911<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

\t\t\t Rubi Pingree
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":909538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23570,683],"tags":[43224,7070],"class_list":["post-909537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korean","category-south","tag-korean","tag-south"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}