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Adoptees Urge South Korea to Expand Access to Their Records and Improve Family Searches – WTOP News
Adoptees say inaccurate records have blocked family searches, as officials reported only 622 reunions from 11,300 requests since 2021.
- On Friday, South Korean adoptees protested outside Seoul's presidential office, demanding full access to adoption records and improved efforts to trace biological families amid claims of government inaction.
- During the 1970s and 80s, thousands of South Korean children were falsely registered as abandoned to meet Western adoption demand, while private adoption agencies paid hospitals and orphanages for newborns and sometimes switched identities.
- Health Ministry records indicate only 622 of 11,300 family search requests submitted between 2021 and September 2025 resulted in reunions, with officials unable to locate birth parents in more than 4,600 cases.
- The administration of President Lee Jae Myung is considering transferring oversight from the National Center for the Rights of the Child to the Overseas Korean Agency to streamline services and coordinate with Western nations.
- Lawmakers are debating bills to ease privacy restrictions, while activists Kee Soon Jager and Angelika Lindgren call for expanded DNA databases before biological parents pass away.
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Adoptees urge South Korea to expand access to their records and improve family searches – WTOP News
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean adoptees from Western nations protested outside Seoul’s presidential office Friday, demanding full access to their records and better efforts to trace their biological families. Those efforts are often derailed by inaccurate or falsified files, as their birth nation weighs an overhaul of its long-maligned post-adoption policies. In a...
·Chevy Chase, United States
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Winnipeg Free Press+13 Reposted by 13 other sources
Adoptees urge South Korea to expand access to their records and improve family searches
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean adoptees from Western nations protested outside Seoul’s presidential office Friday, demanding full access to their records and better efforts to trace their biological families.
·Winnipeg, Canada
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Total News Sources15
Leaning Left8Leaning Right2Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution57% Left
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources lean Left
57% Left
L 57%
C 29%
14%
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