Kyung-ha was six years old when she was allegedly kidnapped while playing near her home in Seoul, South Korea. A woman she didn’t know told her that her mother no longer wanted her and then took her on a train ride. At the final stop, the woman abandoned her. Eventually, police found Kyung-ha and placed her in an orphanage. Not long after, she was flown to the US and adopted by a couple. As reported by the BBC, it would be more than four decades before Kyung-ha saw her mother again.
Today, Kyung-ha’s mother, Han Tae-soon, is suing the South Korean government for failing to stop her daughter’s adoption. She is one of hundreds who have come forward in recent years alleging that the country’s overseas adoption program is rife with fraud, illegal adoptions, and orphan trafficking.
“Mass transportation of children like cargo”
South Korea’s overseas adoption program began in the 1950s as a solution to the 100,000 children orphaned and displaced after the Korean War. It was run almost entirely by private adoption agencies, with government oversight. But over time, legal changes gave these agencies even greater authority, leading to a sharp increase in children sent abroad in the 1970s and 1980s.
With little regulation, Korean agencies charged large sums, demanded hidden fees, and falsified documents. Like Kyung-ha, some of the children may have been taken through corrupt means. Some were homeless or found unattended, while others were taken from families who had been told their child had died.
Han Boon-young, co-founder of an overseas adoptee rights group said:
“We are victims of state violence but there is no trace of this—literally. This lack of documents must not make us victims for the second time…This is a human rights issue. There were kidnappings, falsified documents—all of which were examples of violations committed during the inter-country adoption process”
Most of the demand came from Western countries. A report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission described the system as the “mass transportation of children like cargo,” and alleges that neglect during these long flights sometimes led to children’s deaths.
Silent for far too long
Despite mounting evidence and two lawsuits, including Han Tae-soon’s, many key figures and institutions remain silent—or deny wrongdoing altogether. Bu Chung-ha, who led Holt Children’s Services of Korea in the 1970s, dismissed allegations that his agency falsely labeled children as orphans. He argued that parents who now say someone kidnapped their children had actually ”abandoned them”. Holt’s current management has not responded to a request for comment.
Experts point to the South Korean government’s active role in shaping adoption policy. Dr. Shin, a researcher on transnational adoption at Seokyeong University, said the state didn’t just stand by—it actively set annual adoption quotas and paused certain adoptions when necessary. Dr Lee Kyung-eun, an international law scholar at Seoul National University, also stated:
“Adoption agencies exploited the system, and the government turned a blind eye – allowing illegal practices to take root,”
An Associated Press investigation last year revealed that officials repeatedly removed safeguards and altered legislation to match US adoption requirements, enabling foreigners to adopt Korean children quickly without ever setting foot in the country.
Officials presented these adoptions as humanitarian acts, but internal government documents tell a different story. A 1984 report obtained by the BBC listed national strength and international diplomacy as official goals of the adoption policy—not just child welfare.
In response to questions about the government’s past role, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said it is working to take more responsibility within the adoption system and plans to ensure that future adoptions align with international best practices.
A search for truth and accountability
In recent years, the government of South Korea has taken steps to reform the system. In 2012, it revised adoption laws to improve the screening of adoptive parents and better track birth parent information. It has also moved to shift all adoption responsibilities from private agencies to government control, with new regulations set to take effect in July.
Meanwhile, international adoptions have sharply declined. After peaking in the 1980s, the numbers fell steadily, with only 79 children sent abroad in 2023, according to the latest available data.
But for many adoptees and their families, these changes come too late. Today, most adoptees have no chance of reuniting with their families. Their names were changed or identities erased—often leaving no records behind.
While Han Tae-soon’s reunion with her daughter offered a rare moment of closure, the trauma remains. Despite it, distance and a language barrier have made reconnecting painfully difficult. Han Tae-soon is demanding accountability. She said:
“I spent 44 years ruining my body and mind searching for [my daughter]. But in all that time, has anyone ever apologized to me? No one. Not once.”
Child trafficking into orphanages is a global issue. Act to end the commodification of children and disrupt orphanage trafficking by demanding its recognition as human trafficking, enabling governments to enforce genuine policies to break the vicious cycle.
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