South Korea president apologises for abusive foreign adoption scheme

"President Lee Jae-myung said in a Facebook post on Thursday that he was offering heartfelt apology and words of comfort to South Koreans adopted abroad and their adoptive and birth families, seven months after a Truth and Reconciliation Commission said the programme violated the human rights of adoptees. The commission, which investigated complaints from 367 adoptees in Europe, the United States and Australia, held the government accountable for facilitating adoptions through fraudulent practices, including falsifying records to portray children as abandoned or orphans and switching identities."

"Mass international adoptions began after the Korean War as a way to remove mixed-race children born to local mothers and American GI fathers from a society that emphasised ethnic homogeneity, with more than 140,000 children sent overseas between 1955 and 1999. Foreign adoptions have continued in more recent times, with more than 100 children on average, often babies born to unmarried women who face ostracism in a conservative society, still being sent abroad for adoption each year in the 2020s."

President Lee Jae-myung offered a heartfelt apology and words of comfort to South Koreans adopted abroad and their adoptive and birth families after a Truth and Reconciliation Commission found the programme violated adoptees' human rights. The commission investigated 367 complaints from adoptees in Europe, the United States and Australia and held the government accountable for facilitating adoptions through fraudulent practices including falsifying records and switching identities. The programme affected more than 14,000 children sent abroad. Mass international adoptions began after the Korean War to remove mixed-race children; more than 140,000 were sent overseas between 1955 and 1999. Foreign adoptions continue at over 100 children per year in the 2020s. South Korea ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, which recently took effect, and officials were urged to create safeguards and support adoptees seeking birth parents.

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