US EditionSouth Korea to End Foreign Adoptions by 2029
South Korea’s new child welfare plan aims to end foreign adoptions by 2029, with only 24 approved in 2025, shifting focus to domestic care and state oversight.
- The South Korean government approved a five-year child welfare blueprint on December 26, aiming to phase out foreign adoptions by 2029, prioritising domestic adoption.
- Following a U.N. release on Friday, pressure mounted on Seoul to address decades of fraud and abuse in overseas adoptions, especially during the 1970s and 1980s.
- The truth commission recognised Yooree Kim and 55 other adoptees as victims after a nearly three‑year investigation into 13 complaints, with Kim alleging abuse in France in 1984.
- Under the new framework the government will oversee the entire adoption process with the Welfare Ministry as central authority, allowing overseas adoptions only in exceptional cases coordinated with foreign governments and the Hague Convention ratified.
- Officials say reparations depend on future legislation as the South Korean government offers no new plan to clear falsified records blocking adoptees, while the truth commission faces internal disputes.
34 Articles
34 Articles
South Korea vows to end foreign adoptions
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s government said it plans to end its waning foreign adoptions of Korean children, while United Nations investigators voiced “serious concern” over what they described as Seoul’s failure to ensure truth-finding and reparations for widespread…
Today, the South Korean government announced that it will phase out international adoptions from 2029.
South Korea to end overseas adoptions amid UN concern over human rights abuses
South Korea on Friday announced plans to end foreign adoptions over a five-year period, aiming for zero by 2029, as UN investigators raise “serious concern” over decades of abuses. Many adoptees were sent abroad with falsified records or suffered mistreatment, and critics say Seoul has failed to provide truth-finding, reparations, or full accountability for past violations.
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