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Why Did You Adopt Me to a Pedophile? In An Unfamiliar Land, as The Only Asian…
This week, we examine the brutality of overseas adoption in Korea, which has adopted about 250,000 children around the world over the past 60 years.
Broadcast Date: Friday, October 28, 2022 at 10:00 PM
People from various countries such as the United States and Belgium, mainly from Denmark, argued that illegal adoptions such as coercion, bribery, and forgery of documents appeared in their overseas adoption process and urged them to reveal the truth about human rights violations and state intervention.
Monte Haines and Adam Crapser’s Adoption Story compiled by the Vance Twins
Why are those who have lived their whole lives as foreign nationals returning to their unfamiliar homeland where no language is spoken and raising their voices so much now that decades have passed? This week, we examine the brutality of overseas adoption in Korea, which has adopted about 250,000 children around the world over the past 60 years.
“I am not an orphan.”
Kim Yu-ri was adopted to France in 1984.” Earlier this year, while checking adoption papers, she said that she learned a new fact that she was listed as an “orphan” in the family register. She was placed in an orphanage due to her mother’s hardship and was in the 6th grade of elementary school when she was sent to France for adoption. I was old enough to remember both the names of my biological parents and my life in Korea. However, in the adoption papers that Yuri received, the names of the biological parents were all recorded as ‘unknown’. Luis Kwang, who was adopted to Denmark in 1974, has been visiting Korea since 2017 to find his mother. For over 40 years, Mr. Lewis has lived only knowing that he is an orphan. One day, she received a letter from an adoption agency, saying that she began to find her own roots while watching her daughter grow up. And, to my surprise, the letter contained information about my biological parents, whom I had only thought of for the rest of my life.
How the hell could these things have happened?
Adoption papers that cover the existence of the biological parents that he clearly remembers and that he only thought would never exist. “My father’s name is ‘Anonymous’? no. My father’s name is Kim Cheon-soo. My surname is not ‘Hanyang seaweed’ but ‘Gimhae seaweed’.” – Kim Yu-ri / French Korean adoptee – “I am not an orphan. This is all lies. Unacceptable. It destroys people’s identities. It’s also my identity.” – Louis Kwang / Danish Korean adoptee.
Korean children were popular with foreign adoptive parents who wanted to adopt them because they were docile, young, and smart.
In particular, the ‘proxy adoption system’, implemented before the revision of the Special Adoption Act in 2012, is considered an important factor in Korea’s preference for overseas adoption. At that time, adoptive parents were able to select a child only with documents and photos and proceed with the adoption process without ever visiting Korea. Experts point out that this surrogate adoption system, the so-called ‘postal delivery baby’, not only increased the overseas adoption rate in Korea but also made it impossible to review adoptive parents’ eligibility and could expose adopted children to risks such as violence and abuse. do. “It can be said that the core problem of the surrogate adoption system was that they did not know anything about the parents who wanted to adopt, believed in his favor, and believed that the adoption agency in that country would do everything for them in the future.” – Pil-shik Shin / Doctor of Women’s Studies · Secretary General of the Adoption Association –
“Why did you adopt me to a pedophile?”
In an unfamiliar land, as the only Asian in the village, it was not easy for Yuri to adjust to her new life. At the age of 17, she moved back to a youth shelter in France. What was the reason for her leaving the home with her adoptive parents, the only one she could rely on? “I see this as child trafficking. I think the purpose of the person paying the adoption fee was to buy the child as an object and satisfy his sexual desires, hoping that the child would be that object.” – Kim Yu-ri / French Korean adoptee –
Adoptees who returned to find their roots Nia, who was adopted to Denmark in the 1970s, is concerned about her son’s health. It is said that he is concerned that his son, with weak lung function and asthma, may have inherited his genetic defect, which has been uncomfortable since he was young. I want to check my biological background, but I feel frustrated because there is very little information available. With the revision of the adoption law in 2012, it became possible for adoptees to request disclosure of personal information, but adoptees are still suffering in finding their identity. This is because it is difficult to obtain information related to background or birth parents through documents that are written for convenience in the procedure, as well as conflicting with the legal right to protect the personal information of the biological parents.
“What Korean adoptees in Denmark do is not because they are angry, but because they have the right to argue. Not all adoptees who find their birth parents are happy, but they found peace. I think this peace is our right for adoptees to find.” – Nia Tof Acker / Danish Korean adoptee –
Adoptees who were sent across the world decades ago are now returning to their roots as parents of one child. Now is the time to take responsibility for answering their questions. The episode of “A Life of 3,000 Dollars – The Cruelty of Overseas Adoption” is broadcast on Friday at 10 o’clock on KBS1TV’s “Direct Hit”. We have added the know-how of investigative reporting and the planning power of an authentic documentary! Responsible for the case of compensation for damages for forced mobilization in Japan and the reexamination of victims of the Jeju 4.3 military trial. Together with lawyer Lim Jae-seong, who silently stood by the victim’s side in protesting against massive national violence.
Every Friday at 10 pm, KBS 1TV broadcast ✔ Report: 010-4828-0203 / Shisa direct website / betterkbs@gmail.com
